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DISPLAYED ; 

BEING 
OF ITS 

SITUATION, SALUBRITY AND PICTURESQUE SCENERY* 

ALSO AN 

ACCOUNT OF THE ENVIRONS 

WITHIN 
FIFTEEN MILES ROUND, 

INTERSPERSED WITH A UTHENTIC ANECDOTES. 



By the REV. EDMUND BUTCHER. 



©6hfc iSMttott. 



SIDMOWH : 

PRINTED FOR JOHN WALLIS, AT THE ROYAL MARINE LIBRARY \ 

AND SOLD IN LONDON, 

BY MESSRS. LONGMAN, HURST, REES, ORME AND BROWNE, 

PATERNOSTER ROW* 



\Un 



fcV 






VIEWS, &c. 
PUBLISHED BY J0F1N WALLIS, 

AT THE 

&oj»al Jftarme Sftrarji, ^tUmout§. 



A Beautiful Panoramic View of this Watering-Place, nine feet 
long — 3/. 3s. or 4/. on a roller. 

Views of the Seats and Cottages of Sidmouth and its Environs-— 
in boards, 2L 12s. 6d. plain, or %l. 13s. 6d. coloured. 

Scenery on the Southern Devonshire Coast, comprising the prin- 
cipal picturesque Views from Sidmouth to Torquay, thirty 

Plates, with description half-bound Russia, 2£. 10*. or 

coloured, 3/. 13s. 6d. 

Any of the above Plates to be had separately; 

Sketches of Sidmouth and the Environs, containing twelve beau- 
tiful specimens of the lithographic art, from drawings by E„ 
I. J. Esq. completed in two Numbers — price to the first sixty 
subscribers, 16s. per Number. One hundred copies only 
will be taken. 

A View of the River Teign, three feet long, in colours, 25s, — A 
View of the River Exe, three feet long, in colours, 25s. 

Writing Papers—Pens — Wax and Wafers, of a superior quality 
to any house in Sidmouth. 



THE 

BEAUTIES 

OF 

PART 1. 

aN" some situations, man is almost an amphibious 
animal: in warm climates he passes a great deal of his 
time in the water; and in all climates, at some seasons 
to find ourselves plunged in the refreshing wave, and 
wrapped round with the liquid element, is a most de- 
lightful sensation. Health and pleasure are equally 
consulted in these salutary ablutions, and to many a 
wan countenance has the blush of the rose been re- 
stored by an occasional residence on the margin of 
the sea, and a frequent application of the purifying 
surge to the debilitated iimb* 

Extremes are often meeting in the history of mam 
Savage and civilized life, in the case now under con- 
templation, produce, in a degree, the same effects. 
In the rude, and, what we at least term, the unpolished 
portions of our globe, the inhabitants are universally 
fond of bathing and swimming; indeed, they are 
accustomed to it from their earliest infancy, and con- 
sequently attain to a perfection in aquatic exercises, 
and a capacity of bearing them, if necessary, for a 
length of time, which the enfeebled children of civili- 
zation can seldom hope to equal : amongst them, 
however, the same propensity to seek for health and 
gratification in the cooling or the tepid wave, has 
always been manifested. 



6 

Imperial Rome, in the zenith of her glory, poured 
forth, every year, her numerous population to the 
shores of the Adriatic. Emperors and senators had 
their villas along the coast. By temporary residences, 
from the vicinity of Naples, all round the borders of 
Calabria, the citizens of the mistress of the world, of 
all ages and ranks, sought a frequent renovation of that 
health which care and business had impaired, or more 
frequently, dissipation undermined. 

The luxury and the wealth of Britain have pro- 
duced the same effects. Within the last forty or fifty 
years, watering-places have been every year more and 
more the resort of the gay, the idle, and the valetudi- 
nary. From the extremities of the empire, and from 
the interior parts of our island, multitudes of persons 
are every season rushing to the coasts. Many of the 
formerly inconsiderable towns and villages of it have 
thus been brought into notice; and, in almost all cases, 
accommodation and demand have kept pace with each 
other. The low, inconvenient cottage has given way 
to the lofty and spacious dwelling; and, instead of a 
little ale-house, the splendid inn has attracted the 
notice and supplied the wants of the visitant. 

The West of England, almost every part of the 
coast of which has, in turn, been pronounced the 
Montpelier of the island, abounds with these retreats 
from business, and cradles for the renovation of life. — 
Amongst the rest, Sidmouth is, every year, increasing 
its attractions, and as the means of accommodation are 
multiplied, receiving into its bosom a greater number 
of visitants and admirers. 

The materials for the former histories of small and 
obscure places are, in general, very scanty. This is 
particularly the case with Sidmouth. The pen of his- 
tory has no splendid fact to record, as having here 



7 
taken place, nor has biography any distinguished name 
to select from its inhabitants. The writer of this 
account must, therefore, claim the indulgence of his 
readers, if they find it deficient in that interest and 
amusement which the records of many other places 
afford. All that can be done with respect to its for- 
mer history, is to collect the brief notices of it, 
which are scattered in those histories of Devonshire 
already before the world, and add any circumstance 
which tradition has recorded, or which can be gleaned 
from MSS. or works upon other subjects, in which 
Sidmouth may be referred to. Risdon, Pole, and 
Polwhele, have been carefully consulted in drawing 
up this work. These, particularly the last, have 
examined all the preceding writers who have treated 
upon Devonshire and its inhabitants, and therefore, it 
may be presumed that nothing of any consequence can 
now be known respecting the former state of Sidmouth, 
but what is here brought together. 



NAME AND SITUATION 

Sidmouth, anciently spelt Sidemew, is situated, 
as the name imports, near the spot where the small 
river Sid falls into the ocean. It lies nearly in the 
middle of that vast bay, which is bounded on the east 
by the Isle of Portland, and on the west by the Start 
Point. The whole of this extensive curve is scolloped 
with a number of hollows and small bays, formed by 
the bold headlands of Devon and Dorset. Between 
the lofty and magnificent ridges which these headlands 
terminate, a multitude of streams, which adorn and 
fertilize the rich vallies through which they flow, are 
continually finding their way to the great reservoir 



8 
the sea. On the margin of one of these minor bay9 f 
bounded by Saicombe Hill on the east, and Peak Hill 
on the west, lies the small but rapidly-increasing sub- 
ject of the present sketch. 

By former writers, it is only noted as an " incon- 
siderable fishing-town." Leiand says, " Sidmouth is a 
fischar town, with a broke ci that name, and a bay, 
six miles west of Seton ;" and Sir W. Pole writes, 
" Sidmouth, where the little river Sid runneth into the 
sea, is a small market town, and has been famous for 
fishing." Several persons are still living who can attest 
the accuracy of such descriptions, and recollect almost 
the whole town consisting of thatched houses, of dark 
stone, with their chimnies towards the street, a mode 
of building of which several specimens yet remain, and 
which stiil predominates in most of the unmodernized 
towns and villages of Devonshire. 

Tradition reports, that here was formerly a harbour, 
-which has been gradually choked up by accumulating 
sands. Risdon, in his '« Survey of Devon," written in 
the reign of Charles II. gives this account : " Since 
the surrender to the Crown, Sidmouth is one of the 
chiefest fisher towns of this shire, and serveth much 
provisions into the eastern parts, wherein her principal 
maintenance consists. But in times past, it was a port 
of some account, now choked with chisel and sands by 
the vicissitudes of the tides." 

The rocks, which project for a considerable way 
from the shore, and extended almost across the whole 
of the Sidmouth bay, do not support this account, nor 
give much encouragement to a plan which has been 
suggested of Forming an artificial harbour, by erecting 
a wall upon some of them, something like the " Conb" 
at Lyme. Modern enterprise, however, we aie wit- 
nesses, is capable of producing effects which had long 



9 
been considered as dubious, at least, if not imprac- 
ticable, and therefore, perhaps, some future period 
may witness the addition of an harbour to the growing 
accommodations of Sidmouth. 

A few years ago, the public-spirited friends of the 
place, were flattered with the hope of seeing this desi- 
rable object accomplished. Towards the close of the 
year 1S11, an Engineer was actually employed to make 
drawings, and estimate the expense of an harbour 
which it was proposed to form in a meadow called 
the Ham, through which the river Sid, flows into the 
sea. The necessary drawings and estimates being 
prepared, meetings were called upon the subject, and 
several gentlemen, amcng whom Sir Joseph Scott, 
Bart, particularly exerted himself, entered so warmly 
into the business, that at a general meeting held at the 
London Inn, the following resolutions were unani- 
mously adopted and published ; 

" Sidmouth, Feb. 3, 1S12. 
" At a meeting held this day at the London Inn, 
pursuant to the last adjournment, for the purpose of 
receiving the Engineer's estimate of the expenses 
attending the formation of an ha.bour in this town, it 
having been resolved unanimously, at a former meeting, 
that the same was feasible, and would be advantageous; 
Present, 
The Rev, William Jenkins, 
Sir Joseph Scott, Bart, 
George Cornish, Esq, 
Francis Col man, Esq. 
Emanuel Saruh Lousada, Esq. 
Samuel Paul Paul, Esq. 
and upwards of fifty resident Gentlemen and Trades- 
men in the town and neighbourhood: The following 
resolutions were entered into— 



10 

1. That Sir Joseph Scott, Bart, be requested to 
take the chair. 

2. That Mr. Crocker's estimate, founded on Mr. 
Fawkner's plan, amounting to the sum of £ 15,352. 
2s. lid. having been submitted, be approved, and that 
the plan and estimate be left at the Library in this 
town, for public inspection. 

3. That in case the plan be carried into effect, Mr. 
Charles Dalby be the contractor for the work. 

Other resolutions to the number of twelve, follow, 
relative to the detail of the business, and the sum of 
w£ 10,900, which was afterwards encreased to ,£11,800, 
was subscribed towards carrying it into execution. 

It soon appeared that this plan would have power- 
ful opponents— it was suggested that the western end 
of the beach afforded a more eligible situation for an 
harbour, than that fixed upon by these resolutions — 
the friends of the design were divided, and, as has in 
a multitude of instances been the case, it was lost in a 
conflict between different and clashing interests! 



FORMER TRADE. 

It is certain that the former inhabitants of this 
place were largely engaged in the Newfoundland 
fishery, a branch of maritime commerce which now 
flourishes chiefly at Dartmouth, and at Foole in Dor- 
setshire. By this lucrative, but frequently hazardous 
employment, many considerable, and some large for- 
tunes have been accumulated— and to this, as well as 
our other fisheries and coal trade, we are indebted, in 
a great degree, for that breed of hardy and skilful 
mariners, to whose courage and dexterity our islands 
are so deeply indebted, under Providence, for their 



11 

safety from any hostile attack. Her navy has long 
been, and with the greatest reason, the boast of 
Britain: by this, even during the late terrible, pro- 
tracted, and expensive war, the treasures of the most 
clistant parts of the world were brought into our ports — 
an intercourse kept up with our numerous colonies- 
many of the foreign possessions of the enemy fell into 
our hands— and the greater part of those fleets which, 
in former periods, insulted and threatened us, even on 
our own shores, have been captured or destroyed. 
Such is the navy of Britain ; and all possible attention 
ought to be paid to it : but it may be permitted to the 
serious observer to remark, that there is a higher 
protection, which if we forfeit by national and indi- 
vidual iniquity, not all the navies or armies in the 
world can save us from destruction. That protection 
there is only one way of securing, and that is, not by 
noisy and hypocritical pretensions to piety; but by real, 
substantial, and persevering goodness of character. 



MACKAREL CATCHING. 

The fish with which Sid mouth is supplied, is but 
little of it caught by the labours of an almost daily 
decreasing race of fishermen. The finny stores of the 
deep are brought in by boats, or b}^ land carriage, from 
Beer on the east, and Brixham on the western side of 
this place. Vast quantities of mackerel and whitings 
are occasionally caught, immediately opposite the town. 
They are taken in large nets called a seine, The origin 
of this name it does not appear possible to ascertain. 
The seine and the boat, are worth an hundred pounds 
and upwards. The common seine is five hundred 
yards long ; in the mackarel season they extend them 



12 

to seven hundred, and even eight hundred yards. 
The boat having carried out the net to a certain 
distance, greater or less as circumstances may require, 
the seine is shot from the boat, which, as it moves on, 
forms a circle, being supported by a vast number of* 
corks affixed, at equal distances, to the outside ropes 
of the net. From each end of the seine, when the semi- 
circle is completed, are cords extending to the beach, 
and which are held by persons stationed to haulov pull 
id the seine, when completely cast into the sea : these 
individuals form two rows, which gradually close as 
the net approaches the shore. Many of the inhabitants 
and visitors of Sidmouth were gratified in the month 
of July 1809, with seeing above fifteen thousand 
mackarel brought in by one haul. It is a curious and 
entertaining sight to witness the beauty of this fish 
when first brought out of the water. The diversity 
and brightness of their colours, which vary every 
moment, cannot escape the most cursory observer. 
This is doubtless occasioned by the different atmos- 
phere in which they are then placed; and humanity 
hopes that most of these are muscular motions, and 
speedily attended with little pain to the expiring animal. 
The produce of each haul is divided in the fol- 
lowing manner: the owner of the seine and boat is 
entitled to one half of the fish caught; and also to an 
equal share of the remainder with the rest of the crew, 
between whom the other half is divided share and share 
alike. When women (which seldom happens at Sid- 
mouth) take a part of the adventure, the supposed 
superiority of strength in the male quite supersedes 
that politeness which, in some other departments of 
society, pays a compliment to female assistance; for 
the lady gets only half as much as the gentleman. 
Whether fish are taken or not, the labour is not 



is 

bver when the seine is pulled in. It is necessary that 
the net should be carefully overhauled, that is, spread 
regularly out upon the shingles for drying; as, when it 
is first taken out of the sea, it is left in large hillocks, 
in which situation it would rot and not dry. This 
overhauling, after an unsuccessful shoot, is a very flat 
business— nearly an hour of toil is added, after the 
several labourers have found that there is not a fish 
a-piece to repay them for their time and exertions. 
Soles, salmon-peal, red mulletts, john-dories, turbot, 
pipers, gurnets, and brills, are the fish most commonly 
brought to Sidmoulh. The shell-fish are crabs, lobsters., 
ihrimps, and prawns. 



SIZE OF THE PARISH. 

Sidmouth, in some old writings called Sidmouih 
St. Nicholas, is but a small parish ; being only three 
miles in its greatest, and two miles in its shortest 
length, and about one mile in breadth. It is bounded 
by Harpford and Sid bury on the north, by Salcombe 
Regis on the east, by the sea on the south, and by 
Otterton on the west. Farm-houses appear in several 
different parts of the parish, chiefly belonging to the 
manor of Sidmouth ; they are built in general of cob, a 
composition of clay and straw, (named probably from 
the Greek, KoTnroc,) and stone, and have roofs of thatch. 
The farms are small, and each divided into a number of 
little fields, and mostly in a good state of cultivation. 

Sidmouth, it is said, was a borough-town in the 
13th century. This report is certainly not contradicted 
by the following information, which is to be found in 
Sir William Monson's Naval Tracts: " In the fleet of 
eleven hundred sail, in the reign of King Edward I1L 
c 



14 

the several ports were, upon forty days* warning, to 
furnish such a number of ships for fifteen days, upon 
their own charge, after setting sail ; and to do it every 
year if demanded : the rest of the time the King to 
pav them." That Devon was then one of the most 
considerable maritime counties, appears from its 
sending from 

Ships. Mariners. 

Seaton 2 25 

Sidmouth 3 62 

Exmouth • . 10 193 

Teignmouth 7 120 

Dartmouth 32 283 

Plymouth 26 603 

Yalme * . . . . 2 47 

82 1333 

London, at that time, sent ... 25 662 

Bristol 22 608 

Yarmouth 43 950 



MANOR. 

The manor of Sidmouth was demised by indenture, 
under the seal of the monastery of Sion, to which it 
had been given in 1414, dated February 5, fourteenth 
of Henry VIII. to Richard Gosnell, gentleman, for 
ninety-nine years, under the yearly rent of .£38. 7s. 8c/. 
By old deeds it appears that the manor and rectoiy 
reserved to the crown after the dissolution, were, in 
the reign of Elizabeth, leased to Sir W. Peryam, knt. 
during his natural life. James I. let it to Christopher 
INIanvvaring, at the yearly rent of «£54. 7s. 8d. The 



15 

manor was afterwards sold by Christopher Manwaring, 
€sq. to Sir Edmond Prideaux, bart. and at the same 
time the great tythes were sold to Wad ham-col lege. 
Sir Wilmot Prideaux was the owner of the manor in 
1775 ; and held his court-leet and court-baron at 
Sidmouth. Thomas Jenkins, esq. then residing at 
Rome, became, by purchase, the next lord of the 
manor; and from him it came to his nephew, the pre- 
sent Thomas Jenkins, €sq. 

When Brice wrote, he tells us, that at Sidmouth are 
" some respectable merchants, particularly the Follets, 
of good reputation for probity and honour," and till 
1814, the name was preserved in the town, by the late 
Mr. Abraham Follett, who has left a large family. 



GENERAL DESCRIPTION. 

Sidmouth has a bold open shore, but, on account 
of the depth of the bay in which it lies, but few vessels 
of any magnitude come nearer than the extreme edge 
of the horizon. We have been, however, occasionally 
gratified by ships of war standing close in, and when 
Lord Win. Bentinck went out Ambassador to Sicily, 
the Caledonia of 120 guns, and three 74's, with several 
transports, were within three miles of the town. — 
Fishing and pleasure boats are frequently seen spotting 
the deep blue of the ocean with their white sails, 
and affording, as they tack and shift their positions, 
a pleasing and interesting spectacle. Many of the 
newest lodging-houses are ranged upon the beach, 
which is defended from the attacks of the ocean by 
a natural rampart of pebbles, which rises in four or 
five successive stages, from the surface of the sea, at 
low water. With every tide, the exterior parts of this 



16 
shifting wall assume some different situation ; are sunk 
either higher or lower; or are driven to the east or 
west, according to the strength arjd direction of the 
wind. At low water, considerable spaces of fine hard 
sand are visible— these afford a walk, which would be 
more pleasant, were it not so frequently interrupted by 
collections of stones, and streams, which find their way 
between the pebbles to their parent ocean. In dry 
weather, however, these streams are very inconsiderable. 

At low tides, a fine ride is to be obtained on the 
sands to the westward of Chit Rock ; this road is equally 
practicable for pedestrians if defended by thick shoes. 

As a watering-place, Sidmouth, in its natural advan- 
tages, yields to none, and exceeds many of those retreats 
of Hygeia, which utility and fashion have found out, 
on almost all the coasts of our island. An air mild 
and salubrious ; a soil uncommonly fertile ; the purest 
water, continually flowing; and a situation defended 
from every wind but the south, give it a pre-eminence 
over most of those places on our coast, which are now 
so generally resorted to both for health and amusement. 
The beautiful vale in which the town stands is bounded 
on both sides by long lofty mountains ; these form its 
eastern and western sides ; and, towards the north, it 
is screened by the Gittisham and Honiton hills. — ^The 
approach to Sidmouth by the New Road from Honiton, 
is in the extreme picturesque. 



PLACES ON THE COAST. 

That part of the coast which can be seen from 
Sidmouth beach, has been thus described : From the 
haibour of Dartmouth, the coast, winding to the north- 
cast, shoots out into a promontory calied Berry-head* 



17 

^vhich forms one side of Torbay, where is a good road, 
for shipping, but, excepting Brixham, no port. Beyond 
this lies Teignmouth. Exmouth next appears in view^ 
and then Sidmouth. Nor ought Seaton to be over- 
looked, once a capacious port, though at present an 
inconsiderable creek. A great part of the cliffs on the 
coast, from Exmouth to Lyme, are nearly four hundred 
feet high, and almost perpendicular. " The High- 
peak at Sidmouth is supposed to rise upwards of six 
hundred feet from the sea. From Hope's-nose to the 
Berry-head is formed Torbay, being nearly a semicircle 
of twelve miles." 

Changes more or less considerable are frequently 
taking place upon the coast. In the year 1788, there 
happened a remarkable slip of earth, about half a 
mile from Beer. From a pasture-down called Souths 
down, a great quantity of the cliff gave way, and 
sank down to a considerable depth. The plane 
surface was full six acres of good ground, and the 
depth measured perpendicularly about two hundred 
ftet. It happened about twelve o'clock at night : the 
huge part of the cliff went off with a terribie noise, 
that greatly alarmed the people of Beer. A more than 
usual quantity of rain had fallen for many successive 
days before the cliff gave way. It is the washing of 
the sea, together with the action of the frosts and wind, 
which has formed the cliffs at Sidmouth ; they were 
originally sloping hills, which, being gradually washed 
at the bottom, fell down. 

One of these loosenings of the coast, as they are 
termed, took place in April 1, 1811, just beyond that 
part of Peak-hill, on which the signal-house formerly 
stood : it has rendered the former road between Sid- 
mouth and Exmouth so impassable, that the circuitous 
course which carriages and horses are now obligee! to 



18 

take has added two miles to the distance betwixt the 
two places. The road by Newton Poppleford, which 
is less hilly, is two miles further. 



INTERNAL SCENERY. 

From the beach, Sid mouth appears, on three sides 
of it, encompassed with hills ; the tops of which, in a 
beautifully undulating line, form a vast curve of un- 
common richness and simplicity. Cultivation nearly 
ascends to the summits of some of them ; and the 
enclosures, which are numerous, present a rich variety 
of arable and pasture grounds. Where there are no 
enclosures, a short, sweet and darkish grass covers these 
elevations. Furze and heath, with their yellow and 
purple flowers, fill the air with fragrance, and beautifully 
diversify the scene. Great numbers of sheep browze 
upon this delicious herbage ; and the cottages and 
bakers' ovens of the town and its vicinity are, many 
of them supplied with fuel from these mountainous 
store-houses. 

The hedges of Devonshire are proverbially large 
and rich. Sidmouth is closely surrounded with them 
like so many green and flowery zones ; forming a com- 
plete contrast to the barren downs which surround 
Weymouth, Brighton, and the watering places on the 
Kentish shores. Elms, ashes, and oaks are interspersed 
in great numbers in almost every enclosure : these are 
the foresters most commonly to be met with, but many 
other sorts are scattered here and there. Orchards 
abound in all directions, and that agreeable beverage, 
cyder, is plentiful, and often extremely delicious. It 
is probably owing to the pigs being turned into the 
orchards when the young fruit is dropping from the 



19 

trees, that a great deal of the Devonshire pork is pecu- 
liarly well flavoured. 

In the vernal and autumnal parts of the year, the 
numerous lanes which intersect and divide this rich 
valley, are truly delightful. The country then seems a 
universal garden ; the air is full of fragrance ; and the 
eye gratified, almost beyond conception, with an incal- 
culable diversity of shrubs and flowers : the deep banks 
are literally covered with vegetable mosaic. Trees, 
many of which are very lofty, as well as umbrageous, 
wave their rich foliage in the air, and almost on the 
margin of the sea display all the luxuriance of inland 
vegetation. ' Great quantities of holly and ivy enliven 
the dreary months of winter ; and, with myrtles, laurels, 
and other evergreens, shed a perpetual verdure over this 
charming spot. In vallies there is seldom much flat 
surface: of this, Sidmouth vale is an example— slopes 
and swells every where meet the eye, Streams, so 
transparent as to reveal every pebble over which they 
flow, run from almost every declivity, soothe the ear 
with their murmurs, and refresh, as well as decorate, 
the landscape of which they form so sweet a part. 
The serpentine Sid, which, in still weather, is as clear 
as any of its neighbouring brooks, waters the whole 
eastern side of the valley, and as it approaches the 
ocean, washes the many rocks at the east end of the 
beach. In summer, this stream is so inconsiderable, 
as to have no visible communication with the sea ; but 
in winter, or in any part of the year, when swollen by 
the rain it becomes an impetuous torrent. It then 
disdains to creep between the pebbles, but driving 
them to the right hand and the left, opens for itself an 
unincumbered passage to the " great storehouse of the 
deep," and from no inconsiderable month, pours into 
it, its freshening current. 



t6 



THE TOWN". 

Consists of about three hundred and fifty house*, 
and, in the census taken by order of Parliament in the 
year 1803, was said to contain twelve hundred and 
fifty-two inhabitants. This number according to the 
census in 1813, was increased to above 1600. Begin- 
ning from what is termed Mill-cross, at the north end 
of the town, and ending at the Beach, its length is 
about the third part of a mile. For rather more than 
half of this space it is, principally, one street; the 
remainder is divided into two branches like the letter 
Y. In the eastern branch, which seems rather the 
best of the two, are shops of almost every description, 
and two of the inns of the town, the London Inn and 
the New Inn. In the western branch of the main street 
is the Post-Office. Both branches of the Y, as well 
as the main stem, contain lodging-houses, very various 
both in size and price. 

At the London Inn commences a short cross street, 
which ends in the market-place. On the west of this 
is a division called Western Town, in which most of 
the remains of the old buildings of Sidmoutn are to be 
found: it consists chiefly of poor low cottages, many 
of which will, probably, at the expiration of their 
present tenures, give place to buildings more suitable 
to those with which they are surrounded. On the east 
»ide of the town is another suburb, called, probably 
from its low situation, as it descends to the river, the 
Marsh. Here are also some lodging-houses, and, in 
the narrower part of it, towards the sea, many small 
residences for the poorer sort of people have lately- 
been erected. 



21 
Returning again to the London Inn, from thence* 
a small remaining part of the main street terminates at 
the Beach. 

RELIGION. 

That bond of union between heaven and earthy 
that golden chain* which connects man with his 
Maker, is, undoubtedly, a matter of the highest impor- 
tance to mankind. This is a sentiment which, in all 
ages and countries, has been felt, and which is sanc- 
tioned, in the fullest manner, by the pages of inspired 
truth. Altars and temples, around, or in which man^ 
kind might, at stated times* unite in pouring out the 
pious effusions of gratitude, reverence, and humility, 
have appeared in all places — it is, therefore, but a 
proper homage paid to the religious principle, in 
attempting a description of any place, to begin with 
noticing those edifices which have been set apart for 
the public worship of God. This sentiment directs us to 



THE CHURCH. 

This structure* which is supposed to be about four 
hundred years old, is a convenient place of worship. 
Both within and without* an air of neatness predomi- 
nates. It is a slated stone edifice, and its tower is 
remarkably well built ; its open windows are hand- 
somely ornamented : the dial of the clock, which has 
been lately put up, obscures one of them — of this, 
some architectural antiquarians have complained, as a 
sacrifice of taste to utility; but, upon the principle 

* Religo, Lat., to bind, to make fasL 
J) 



22 

that a " living dog is better than a dead lion," surely 
such an objection should be given up. A clock, which 
is of constant use to a whole town, is unquestionably 
of more value than a window in a steeple, which not 
above one person in five hundred would look at with 
any particular attention. The number of bells in this 
tower are five. The church had once an organ, which, 
we are told, " was destroyed in Cromwell's days." It 
has not, however, now to lament the want of this 
appropriate piece of church music, as a small one has 
been lately erected by subscription. The south, or 
principal entrance, which has been lately repaired, and 
over it a new window opened, is surmounted by a 
small stone cross, similar to some others at the angles 
of the roof. The claims of this edifice to the tutelage 
of a patron Saint, are divided betwixt the rival names 
of St. Nicholas and St. Giles. The argument in favour 
of St. Nicholas, who is a sort of Christian Neptune, is, 
that many churches upon the coast are dedicated to 
him, and this, amongst the rest. That, in favour of 
St. Giles is, perhaps, rather stronger, which is, that 
the parish wake is held on St. Giles's Monday. 

Amongst the older monuments in this church is 
one, on the north side of the chancel, to the memory 
of Walter Harlewin, Esq. ; on the east another, to the 
memory of the Reverend John Minshull, formerly 
vicar of this parish ; on the south, a third, in memory 
of the Reverend Oliver Courtrice, and John his son, 
the two preceding vicars. Of the modern mural 
records, many of which adorn both internally and 
externally the walls of this edifice, and commemorate 
the virtues of the dead, or hold out admonitory lessons 
to the living, one of the most distinguished preserves 
the memory of Dr. Currie of Liverpool; and another, 
that of a lad v from Northumberland: both are slabs 



of white marble, and surmounted with urns. The 
inscription on the first of these is as follows : 
To the memory of 
James Currie, M.D. F.R.S. 
late of Liverpool, afterwards of Bath, 
who died at this place Augu?t 31, 1805, 
aged 49 years. 
The mileler virtues which the friend endear, 
The soften'd worth which wakes affection's tear, 
And all that brightens in life's social day, 
Lost in the shades of death, may pass away: 
Fast comes the hour when no fond heart shall know, 
How lov'd, Oh, Currie, was the dust below. 
Here cease the triumphs which the grave obtains, 
The man may perish, but the sage remains. 
Freedom and Peace shall tell to many an age, 
Thy warning counsels, toy prophetic page: 
Art, taught by thee, shall o'er the burning frame 
The healing freshness pour, and bless thy name: 
And Genius, proudly while to Fame she turns, 
Shall twine thy laurels with the wreath of Burns. 

The inscription on the second monument above 
mentioned, and which is very near Dr. Currie's, is in 
these words, on the urn : 

Mary 

Wife of Robert Lisle of Acton-house, 

in the county of Northumberland, Esq. 

died 21 February 1791, aged 39 years, 

and, by her own desire, lies buried here. 

(On the slab below: J 
Blest with soft airs from health-restoring skies, 
Sid mouth I to thee the drooping patient flies; 
Ah ! not unfailing is thy port to save,— 
To her thou gav'st no refuge but a grave: 
Guard it, mild Sidmouth, and revere its store, 
More precious none shall ever toucn thy shore. 



24 
Many appropriate texts of scripture, evidently 
painted a considerable time ago, are conspicuously 
placed in the body of the church. 

A new gallery has been erected in the church, and 
both under and over it, are many neat memorials of 
strangers, mostly in younger life, who have here 
finished their mortal course ; a few of them are here 
transcribed as specimens of the whole. 

A square marble slab thus preserves the memory 
of a West Indian physician: 

Near this place lie die remains of 
Nathaniel March ant, Esq. 
a native of the Island of Antigua, 
where his abilities as a physician, a magistrate, and a legislator, 
and the many amiable qualities of his mind, will be held in admi- 
ration while memory shall last. He died the 25th of February, 
1804, in the 49th year of his age, and his disconsolate widow, 
after receiving uninterrupted proofs of his affection for 18 years, 
caused this stone to be erected to his memory. 

Four black and white marbles, of very neat work- 
manship, occur in succession, and are inscribed as 
follow: 

Near this spot are deposited the remains of 

Charles Watson, Esq. 

of Sanghton, in the county of Mid Lothian, 

who died here, June 2, 1804, aged 66. 

•* In te, Domine, speravi." 

The second has the arms of the deceased at the 
top, the motto, " deo non fort una." 

Inside this Church, and underneath, lies the body of 

William Henry Digby, Esq. 

third and last remaining son of John W. Digby, Esq. 

of Lauderstown, C°* Kildare, died at 

Sidmouth, 10 Feby» A. D. 1809, aged 22 yeari. 



*i5 

The third, is thus inscribed, 

Underneath are deposited the remains of 

Catharine, wife of George Stacpoole, Esq. 

of Grosvenor Place, in the County of Middlesex, 

who departed this life, October 28, 1809, 

JEtai. 37. 

The fourth, which is surmounted by a figure of 
Hope, is thus worded, 

O Lord receive my soul. 

Close to, and underneath this stone are deposited 

the remains of 

Charlotte Temperance, 

eldest surviving daughter of 

Thomas and Elizabeth Alston, 

of Odell Castle, Bedfordshire. 

She died at Sidmoutb, on the 10th of November, 1810, 

aged nineteen. 



One of the most recent, as well as appropriate of 
these mural records, is in the form of a Sarcophagus, 
and placed near the communion table ; it is thus- 
inscribed : 

In a vault are deposited the remains of Maria Elizabeth, 
second daughter and co-heiress of the late Thomas Dyot Buck- 
nall, Esq. of Hampton Court, in the County of Middlesex, who 
came to Sidmouth for the benefit of her health, and, after a long 
illness, borne with pious resignation, and in the exercise of every 
social virtue, departed this life, to the inexpressible grief of her 
family, April 16, 1814, aged 25. 

Early, bright, transient, chaste as morning dew, 
She sparkled, was exhaled, and went to heaven. 



16 

In the church-yard, as Sid mouth becomes more 
celebrated for the winter as well as the summer retreats 
of invalids, every year adds to the number of tomb- 
stones. Many of tliem, as may easily be supposed, are 
erected over the remains of those, who, seeking too 
late the renovating breezes of this charming place, have 
here paid the debt of nature. Several of these mortuary 
erections are in a handsome, substantial style. One of 
them records the name of the Reverend Samuel 
Blackall, B. D. rector of Loughborough, who was so 
delighted with Sidmouth, while living, as to wish to 
be buried in this church-yard. He was the grandson 
of Dr. Offspring Blackall, who was bishop of Exeter 
in the reign of Queen Anne, and, from the great 
interest which her Majesty took in his elevation, 
denominated the Queen's Bishop. 

A handsome tomb, near the belfry door, thus records 
some branches of the Cotmaton family: 

On one side, 

In memory of Henry Carslake, gent, of Cottinton, in this 
parish, who died the 17th day of July, 1757, in the 59th year of 
his age : AUo, Elizabeth, his wife, who died the 20th day of June, 
1744, in the 35th year of her age: Also, Joseph Carslake, their 
sen, who died August the 6th, 1757, in the 18th year of his age : 
Also, Anna Maria, their daughter, who died an infant. 

On the opposite side, 

Henry Carslake, of Cottinton, gent, died January 20th, 
176U. aetat. 28. 

Lately, like you, I flourished in the fair field of life : in a 
moment, the unexpected storm arose, which cut me down like a 
flower, and my body lies withering in this comfortless bed. Esti- 
mate from hence the ralue of earthly things : remember judgment, 
and learn to die. 



27 
Several of the newest tomb-stones are marked with 
a cross, an indication that the persons they commemo- 
rate, were Roman Catholics. 

Enclosed by an iron railing, on the south side of the 
church, the foJlowing testimony to the worth of an 
amiable lady occurs : 

Here lieth the remains of Charlotte, wife of John Storer, 
A. M. Rector of Haw kes worth, Notts ; second daughter of 
Charles Wylde, D.D. Rector of St. Nicholas, Nottingham. 

She was a rare gift of God, soon taken away ; rich in the faith 
of a crucified Saviour, and that faith evidenced by its fruits, a holy 
life. A flower early ripened by the eternal Spirit for immortal 
bliss ; she left this present scene to her own joy, but to the sorrow 
of her surviving relatives, the 29th of January, 1816, aged 25; 
leaving three sons, John, Charles, and George. 

The^hurch of Sidmouth was granted in 1212, by 
Bishop Marshall, to the monastery of St. Michael de 
Monte, in Normandy, to which the priory of Otterton 
was a cell. Sidmouth is now a vicarage, the rectorial 
tythes belong to Wadham-coliege, Oxford ; and, for 
the vicarial, the inhabitants pay a composition. The 
Reverend William Jenkins, father of Thomas Jenkins, 
Esq. the lord of the manor, is the present incumbent. 
The vicarage-house is situated near the entrance of the 
town from the north. It is an old building modernized, 
and very considerably enlarged and improved. 

A house near the beach, for many years known by 
the sign of the Anchor, afterwards a private dwelling, 
and about the year 1805 pulled down, is said to have 
been a chapel of ease, while Otterton was the mother- 
church. The thickness of its scone wails, the firmness 
of the cement by which the stones were united, and its 
chapel-looking door-way arched with stone, certainly 



23 
favoured this idea. In further confirmation of it, there 
ran near it a path leading from Sidbury and Sidmouth 
to Otterton, called Go-church, in which, till about 
twenty-five or thirty years ago, an ancient stone cross 
was standing : its situation, and the space it occupied, 
are still discoverable, by a difference in the pavement 
near the present market-house. 



THE OLD DISSENTING CHAPEL; 

Is situated at the north entrance of the town, at th« 
corner of Mill Lane. It is a small, white, thatched 
building, measuring forty-five feet long and twenty- 
three broad. Its exterior appearance is very humble, 
but within, it is neat and convenient. It was erected 
between eighty and ninety years ago. Previous to that 
time, there was a meeting-house in what is now termed 
Theatre Lane. 

It is uncertain at what time a regular dissenting 
congregation was formed in this place : most likely it 
was in the reign of Charles II. Mr. William Paulk 
is the first of their ministers, whose name has been 
preserved. He appears, as the minister of Sidmouth, 
to have delivered a sermon before the assembly at 
Exeter, September 9, 1719. 

The present minister is Mr. Edmund Butcher, 
who, having quitted London, on account of indisposi- 
tion, in the year 1797, received so much benefit from 
residing in Devonshire, as to enable him, the following 
year, to accept a unanimous invitation to the pastorship 
of this society. Since then he has laid before the 
public three volumes of Sermons for the use of families, 
an Excursion from Sidmouth to Chester, and some 
other pieces. 



In the month of June, 1811, an addition was made 
to the religious edifices of this town, by the opening 
of a very neat and commodious chapel, for the use of 
Protestant Dissenters of the Calvinistic persuasion. 
Its dimensions are about 30 feet by 40. It was erected 
by subscription, and has one of those useful institu- 
tions, a Sunday School, supported by its attendants. 
The Rev. Mr. Ward is its present minister. 

By the zeal and philanthrophy of some pious and 
public-spirited individuals, in the month of September, 
1814, a Branch Bible Society, connected with 
the Auxiliary Bible Society at Exeter, was 
established at Sidmouth : the meeting upon the occa- 
sion was numerously attended. Lord Teignmouth, to 
whom this noble and truly Christian Institution is so 
deeply indebted, was kind enough to take the chair, 
and to accept, as was unanimously wished, the patron- 
age of the Society. 

A respectable list of subscribers Was procured, and, 
on the first anniversary of the Institution, the follows 
ing list of officers was presented to the public: 
Patron* 
Right Honourable Lord Teignmouth* 
President, 
Sir John Kennaway, Bart. 
Vice-Presidents, 
George Cornish, Esq. Robert Hunt, Esq, 
Treasurer, 
Daniel Mackinnon^EsQ; 
Secretaries, 
H. Van Hagen, Esq. Mr. M. Hall. 

*f he Report made upon this occasion was a very 
satisfactory one* it concluded with the following ani- 
mated paragraph : 

£ 



30 

" The times we live in are in every respect extra- 
ordinary; but novel and unprecedented as the occur- 
rences in the political world are, they are surpassed in 
interest and importance by the scenes which are now 
exhibiting, in the endeavours for the moral and reli- 
gious amelioration of mankind ; and while political 
events are shrouded in obscurity, and we hardly know 
the final result of any of the transactions we witness, 
we know assuredly, that the spread of the Scriptures 
shall terminate in the realization of that glorious day, 
when the kingdoms of this world shall become the 
kingdoms of our Lord and of his Christ, and he shall 
reign for ever and ever. In hope of the fulfilment of 
these predictions, we are encouraged to persevere in 
our exertions ; and are assured by Him who cannot 
lie, that our labour shall not be in vain in the Lord, 
For ■ His name (who is the sum and substance of the 
Bible) shall endure for ever; His name shall be con- 
tinued as long as the sun, and men shall be blessed in 
Him; all nations shall call Him blessed, and blessed 
be His glorious name for ever, and let the whole earth 
be filled with His glory. Amen, and Amen.' " 

A very useful association has lately been formed 
for the double purpose of relieving real distress, and 
guarding the benevolent from imposition. It is deno- 
minated, 

The Humane, or Poor's Friend Society, 

instituted in Sidmouth, December 1j, 1815, 

for the purpose of visiting and relieving the sick and 

distressed poor of Sidmouth, and its vicinity, at their 

own habitations. 

Mr. William Robins is the Treasurer, and 
Mr. Matthew Hall, the Secretary. 



31 

The following passages, from the address circulated 
upon the subject, will further explain the nature of its 
design, and the progress it has actually made : 

" Visitors cannot relieve previous to the case being 
laid before the committee, unless they should deem it 
quite necessary to grant immediate assistance, when 
one shilling may be advanced, but not more. 

" Subscribers to the Society are at liberty to recom- 
mend any case of distress, which may come to their 
knowledge, when visitors will, as quickly as possible, 
attend to such cases as shall be so recommended, and 
institute an enquiry into the name—parish— occupation 
— cause of distress — if married — number of children, 
with the ages of each — if application has been made to 
the parish, and amount of relief therefrom— relief or 
income from other sources, &c. &c. 

" Visitors will avail themselves of every opportunity 
to check neglect and disorder in the families of the 
poor; and advise them on those necessary points of 
economy, in which they are often defective. 

" Many families and individuals have been found 
by this Society so completely stripped of their apparel, 
as to be unable, after the return of health, to gain any 
employment, for want of a decent appearance; and the 
funds of this Society not being adequate to the pur- 
chase of even the coarsest cloathing, they beg leave to 
solicit, from the friends and patrons of this Society, 
donations of cast-off or useless clothes, or any other 
cheap article of wearing apparel, suitable either for 
men or women, boys or girls ; also blankets, sheets, &c. 
will be thankfully received, and appropriated with the 
greatest care to the most necessitous and prudent of 
the poor, by being sent to Mr. William Harris, 
grocer, Sidmouth. 



at 

April 2d, 1816. 

" f& Since the formation of the before-mentioned 
Society, in December last, every exertion has been 
made by the visitors to find out deserving objects of 
the charity, in Sidmouth and its vicinity. Relief has 
been afforded to sixty-four families and individuals, 
and not less than two hundred and sixty distinct visits 
made ; particulars of which are entered in a register, 
deposited with the Secretary of the Society, and open 
at all times to the inspection of its friends and sup- 
porters. In administering and apportioning their relief, 
the committee have always attended to the circum- 
stances of the persons requiring it, and have sometimes 
supplied them with articles of which they were in the 
more immediate w r ant ; and have adverted also to the 
parochial allowances, if any, which they have received." 

This charity will hereafter be conducted under the 
superintendance of the under-mentioned magistrates 
and gentlemen of Sidmouth and its vicinity, some of 
whom will meet the Committee of the Society the 
third Monday of every month, at one o'clock, at the 
London Inn, Sidmouth, to co-operate, and give them 
all the assistance in their power. 

Sir John Kennaway, Bart. Rev. Mr. Cockburn, 

Sir Robert Wiimot, Bart. Rev. James Bernard, 

George Cornish, Esq. J. James, Esq. 

Edward Lee, Esq. Smith Wright, Esq. 

Daniel Mackinnon, Esq. J. C. Girardot, Esq. 

Rev. H. Fellowes, Sidbury. Rev. Edmund Butcher. 

The Poor's Friend Society has sustained an irrepa- 
rable loss in the death of his late Royal Highness the 
Duke of Kent, who had most cheerfully subscribed, 
and consented to become its patron. 



S3 

One of those useful institutions, Savings Banks, 
having been established at Exeter, the Rev. Mr. 
Cockburn, and H. Cutler, Esq. have kindly under- 
taken to act as receivers at Sidmouth. 



ACCOMMODATIONS, AMUSEMENTS, &c. 

There are three Inns in the town,— the London 
Inn, the York Hotel, and the New Inn. The 
original assembly and card rooms are at the London Inn ; 
the assembly-room is large, well fitted up, and the floor 
has an excellent spring ; it is generally well attended. 
The rooms are open for cards every night, and the Balls 
are frequent. Near 200 persons have been seen in this 
room without the assistance of a Master of the Cere- 
monies. Last season Mr. Marshall of the lower rooms, 
Bath, undertook the duties of that situation. 

For the few last seasons, the company have spent 
too great a part of their evenings at the Library. — It 
may well bear a question whether the older, and cer- 
tainly more sociable mode upon the whole, of assem- 
bling at the rooms, is not a preferable way of passing 
the evening ; nothing, however, is so variable as 
fashion, or so completely under the dominion of 
caprice, as modes of " killing time." 

The York Hotel is a large handsome house, 
newly erected. It stands on the beach, and has an 
uninterrupted view of the whole bay in which Sid- 
mouth lies. Since this establishment was completed, 
six other handsome houses have been built in a line 
with it, now known by the name of York terrace.* 

* The three last of these are the New Baths, a lodging-house 
belonging to Mr. Marman,' and the last is another; belonging to 
the head waiter at the York Hotel. 



34 

The stables belonging to the Hotel are higher up in 
the town, and are the same which formerly belonged 
to the London Inn. 

The London Hotel is kept by Mr. Street, and is 
well known also as an excellent house : it has a fine set 
of stables newly built, nearly opposite itself. 

The New Inn, is upon a smaller scale than either 
the London or the Hotel. Very good accommodations 
are to be met with here also, and it possesses a conve- 
nient stable. At the London Inn, and York Hotel, 
post-chaises, good horses, and careful drivers are 
to be had. 

Wines, porters, and liquors of all sorts are sup- 
plied, not only at the inns, public-houses, and several 
shops in the town, but of Messrs. Barrett, Follett, 
Robins, and Gove. 

Two breweries,-— one carried on by Mr. Searle, 
in the northern suburb of the town, called Land, and 
the other by Mr. Baker, in the Marsh, supply the 
town and the visitors with a very excellent table 
beverage. 

Mr. Pearcy, who is admirably qualified as the pro- 
prietor of a Boarding House, has, at a great ex pence, 
fitted up one upon the Beach in an undeniable situation 
for such an establishment. — A good Billiard-Room is 
contiguous to it, and the original table is removed to 
the present building. 

The Market-house is a convenient, modern brick 
edifice, surmounted with a ball and weathercock. 



PROVISIONS, 

are plentiful, and, in general, very good of their 
kinds. Beef, mutton, and pork, are excellent; and 



35 
veal, though not so large, nor, by excessive bleedings 
rendered so white, as that brought to the London 
markets, is very sweet. Saturdays and Tuesdays are 
the chief market days, but several butchers reside in 
the town, and every day the supply is commonly equal 
to the demand. Poultry and eggs are brought by the 
country-people to the doors of the inhabitants : the 
poultry is both good and cheap. Bread and cakes are 
supplied in abundance by several bakers. Vegetables 
and fruit are furnished by the gardeners of the place: 
of these, Arnoll, Barret and Franklin are, at this time, 
the principal. Fruit is also brought in from the 
neighbouring parishes, even from Taunton, and other 
distant places. 

LODGINGS 

are numerous, and may be had of almost all sizes 
and prices, as well as in a variety of situations. They 
are scattered in every part of the town and its vicinity. 
Those on the beach, and in the Fort-field, possessing 
an unbroken view of the sea, are generally the most 
sought after. In the town, however, as more sheltered, 
invalids are often ordered to reside ; and one great ad- 
vantage of Sidmouth is, that almost every want of this 
sort may be supplied. Situations, open or sheltered, 
in the sunshine or the shade, public or private, may 
be obtained. 

THE BEACH 

Is" the grand public mall: it is a delightful broad 
walk, upon the margin of the sea, railed and rolled in 
a very good style. It is nearly a third of a mile in 
lesgtk, and. is furnished at the extremities, and in some 



30 
other part9, with neatly painted, convenient double 
eeats, from which either the land or the sea may be 
contemplated with every advantage. 
Going westward, towards the Fort, is 



WALLIS's, THE ROYAL MARINE LIBRARY. 

This is a very neat pile of building with battlements, 
and at the western extremity next the Fort Field is a 
round tower with a flag-staff, upon which the Union 
is hoisted to celebrate the anniversary of each principal 
victory during the late war, as well as upon Royal 
birth-days, and other particular occasions. When Sid- 
mouth had no establishment of this description, the 
present proprietor embarked his property undar the 
most favorable patronage; among whom he had the 
honor to boast, Lord Gwydir, Lady Willoughby, Lord 
and Lady Le Despenser, Emanuel Baruh Lousada, 
Esq. and the principal nobility of the town and neigh- 
bourhood. The Library was first opened to the Pub- 
lic, June 20th, 1809, and this romantic watering-place 
at length boasted what it had long desired, a lounging 
place in a conspicuous and pleasant situation, where 
articles of fancy, as well as information and utility, 
may be met with; where the news of the day may be 
collected and discussed, and and opportunity given to 
saunterers to chat and gossip together. No situation 
can be more favourable for all these purposes than 
the Royal Marine Library, it has a veranda 42 feet in 
length, under one half of which is a retreat from the 
sun 15 feet deep, surrounded with seats. From hence 
the spectator commands a near and utterly unimpeded 
view of the sea, comprehending the immense bay 
within Portland and the Berry-head. Large parties 



37 

are often chatting on its benches : the gay and healthy 
are amused, and the invalid finds a spot from which 
he can inhale those salubrious breezes which so fre- 
quently suspend the ravages of disease, pour fresh oil 
into the lamp of life, and send him back, with reno- 
vated energies, to both the cares and the joys of 
mortality. 

The Library opens directly upon that charming 
promenade the Beach, where all the beauty and fashion 
of the place are often collected. It is well supplied 
every day with the London and provincial newspapers. 
Several of the most popular periodical publications are 
to be found upon its tables. A variety of elegant toys 
and trinkets, and some articles of greater utility, oc- 
cupy its shelves. Books of education, dissected maps, 
and a circulating library, to which new works are 
regularly added, complete an establishment which, 
with a continuance of the liberal encouragement so 
long experienced, will be, every season, increasing in 
variety and value. In the summer season a room 
behind the Library, is appropriated to the readers of 
the newspapers, and in winter a good fire is always kept: 
In the month of October 1819, Mr. Wallis had the 
distinguished honor, when the late Duke of Kent first 
visited Sidmouth, of conducting his Royal Highness to 
the old and new sea-water baths, &c. and was sub- 
sequently introduced at the York Hotel, to submit 
the much admired panoramic view for his Royal 
Highness's inspection, of which he expressed his 
decided approbation, and was graciously pleased to 
say it would afford him mucii pleasure to shew it to 
her Royal Highness the Duchess of Kent. On the 24th 
of December following their Royal Highnesses and 
suite arrived at Sidmouth, previous to which Mr 
Wallis had received the honor of his appointment, 



38 
dated Kensington Palace, to be Bookseller, &c. to their 
Royal Highnesses* household. 

In the year 1812, an opposition Library was built 
by Miss Rose, and was carried on by Mr. Marsh till the 
year 1819, it is now shut up, and the late proprietor 
has established an opposition billiard-room, behind the 
small shop where he for a short time carried on the 
pastry business. 

A most beautiful and faithful panoramic view of 
the whole beach, including all the buildings upon it, 
the rocks at each extremity, and the hills in the back- 
ground, has been drawn by Hubert Cornish, Esq. 
engraved in aqua tinta by Havel 1, and published by 
Wallis, opposite whose library the view was taken. — 
Views of all the principal ornamental cottages and 
Gentlemen's residences in the environs, are to be had 
at Wallis' s only; and Ladies or Gentlemen wishing 
to preserve a recollection of any part of this coast from 
Weymouth to Torquay, will meet with a greater 
variety of prints of this description, than at any other 
watering-place in the kingdom. The proprietor having 
expended upwards of .£900 in engraving, coloring, &c. 

It may be mentioned as a proof of the distance at 
which objects may be seen from the beach, as well as 
a memorable historical fact, that from the veranda of 
the Marine Library, the Right Hon. Lord Gwydir and 
Lord Charles Bentinck witnessed the entrance into 
Torbay of his Majesty's ship Bellerophon, with Napo- 
leon Bonaparte on board. 

The lodging-houses upon the beach, and near it, 
having a view of the sea, are about /erfy, terminating 
with Rock Cottage, at the west end, belonging to Mr. 
Joseph Sparks, and commanding a view of the whole 
beach, and the eastern cliffs. Immediately beyond 
Rock Cottage, and crowning a projecting rock, is 



39 

Clifton Cottage ; built by E. B. Lousada, Esq. who 
has erected, at the western extremity of the same field, 
another, upon a more extensive scale. To this division 
of habitations which, from its detached and elevated 
situation, is denominated Clifton, Mr. HefFer has added 
a new house, called Westmount Cottage, overlooking 
the lower end of the Ham, wherein is situated Wool- 
brook Cottage, the property of Major-General Baynes, 
and the residence of his late Royal Highness the 
Duke of Kent. 

Except the billiard, card, and assembly rooms, 
Sidmouth has no place of public amusement. Some 
years ago, a small theatre was erected : an itinerant 
company were the performers; but the building, now 
converted into dwelling-houses, is a proof of the success 
they met with. This, however, did not prevent another 
attempt. A substantial building near the beach was 
fitted up for the purpose ; the scenery and the per- 
formers were both above mediocrity, and the only 
season in which they have performed, which was in 
the autumn of 1814, they were respectably attended. 



EDUCATION. 

For this important purpose provision is here made, 
by an establishment of a superior description for a 
limited number of young ladies, in a most delightful 
and retired situation. 

Mr. Edward Evans has carried on a day school for 
many years. 

His daughter, Miss Evans, keeps a day school for 
young ladies. 

At present there is no academy for young gentle- 
men, which offers a most desirable opportunity to a 



40 
Clergyman or other well-educated person, who may be 
desirous of commencing a respectable concern. 

MASTERS. 

Drawing— Mr. H. Hasler. 

Music— Mr, Williams, Harp Master. 

Teachers of Piano Forte and Singing— Mr. H. 

Wild man, and Mr. Mudge of Exeter. 

Dancing— Mr. and Mrs. Mason. 

The French language is taught, at the houses of 

the pupils. 



THE ENVIRONS OF SIDMOUTH. 

By these are meant the houses and estates scattered 
in the immediate vicinity of the town, which adorn, 
not merely the flat part of the vale, but the slopes of 
the hills which bound it on either side. In the flat 
part of the valley, west of the town, and open to the 
sea, a row of brick houses appear, in number eleven, 
which, if finished according to the plan laid down, 
would form a crescent with a small curve. — No. 4, is 
the residence of the Misses Schimmelpenninck ; No. 5, 
Capt. White, R. N. ; and No. 6, Mrs. Fulford. The 
rest are all let for hire. The field in which they stand 
is called the Fort Field, from a little fort at the end of 
it, in which there are still four old pieces of cannon, 
but the flag-staff and small ammunition-house have 
long ago disappeared. 

Entering the Fort Field from the Royal Marine 
Library, the first buildings that offer themselves, are 
two small brick dwellings with a balcony, for hire; 
farther on is Prospect Place, at present consisting of 



41 

three convenient roomy houses belonging to Mr. Denby, 
whose intention is to build two others adjoining. A 
more appropriate name could not have been found for 
this place; the view from it, both of Peak-hill, and the 
sea to the westward, is very beautiful. 

Fort House, built by Mr. Philips, and since become 
the property of Sir John Kennaway, Bart, by whom it 
has been greatly enlarged and beautified, stands on the 
eastern side of the Fort Field : it is a large house, very 
tastefully furnished, and is now occupied by Thomas 
Dash wood, Esq. 

Close by it, is Barton Cottage; a neat and convenient 
residence, built by the late Mr. Follett. Immediately 
adjoining, is a large house, well fitted up, and built for 
the purpose of letting, by Mr. Rafarel, pastry-cook and 
confectioner. Close by the entrance into the Fort 
Field, opposite the church, is a small house and garden, 
belonging to Miss Pleydell, also for hire. 

Going up the Fort Field, from Mr. Rafarel's, and 
separated from it by a lane, stands Rosemount, a very 
pleasant habitation, erected by C. E. Pigou, Esq. for- 
merly his residence ; but now to be let for a long or 
short period. At a little distance is another, of nearly 
the same size, denominated Violet Bank Cottage, the 
residence of Miss Bryett, who superintends a select 
establishment for a limited number of young ladies. 

At the northern end of the Fort Field, about a 
quarter of a mile from the church, is Cottington, or 
Cotmaton, " an ancient seat, commanding a pleasant 
view of the bay. It was sold by the Dukes of Otter- 
ton, to William Harlewin, Esq. Sir John Harlewin, 
who was knighted for his valour in the time of Edward 
IV. lived at Sidmouth. His descendants lived at Sid- 
mouth to the time of Charles II. 



42 

Cotmaton House, the residence of Henry Stuart, 
Esq. has been greatly improved by two handsome bow 
windows on the ground floor, projecting into the gai> 
den, and other alterations, effected since he has been 
in possession of it. John Carslake, Esq. is the owner 
of this, together with Neiv Cotmaton, a house built by 
John Carslake, Esq. his late uncle, almost adjoining the 
old one. Its front looks full on the sea, and, like the 
terrace, in its beautiful garden, commands a fine view 
of it. The latter house may be hired, and is fit for the 
reception of a large genteel family. 

Witheby, the elegant cottage, planned and built by 
Miss Floyd, stands at the head of a fine verdant mea- 
dow, which slopes down to the Fort Field, with which 
it is connected by a neat little bridge. This beautiful 
cottage ornee has been enlarged and decorated by the 
taste and spirit of its present possessor, Miss Wrighte, 
in such a manner as to render it a most lovely residence. 
The new carriage approach from Mill Lane, while it 
increases the convenience of access, adds a new beauty 
to the scenery around it. 

On the right hand, approaching Miss Wrighte's, 
with a beautiful lawn and shrubbery before it, and an 
excellent walled garden, rises the well designed and 
highly finished house of the Reverend James Hobson: 
the view from the lawn, both of sea and land, is rich 
and extensive. The lodge belonging to this mansion, 
which stands opposite the entrance into the grounds in 
Mill Lane, is an object of universal admiration. The 
ivy which creeps up its slender pillars, and hangs in 
festoons from its roof, gives it a simple elegance which 
no other ornament could have bestowed. 

Just at the entrance of the town, at the corner of 
Mill Lane, stands a substantial brick house, formerly 



43 

the best in Sidmouth, and long the only one of the 
kind. It was for many years the residence of the late 
Mr. Oxe'nham, and now adds one to the lodging- 
houses of the place. Going from thence towards 
Exeter, we come to the Vicarage, and a little further 
on, to Balsters, now the property of Samuel Giles, Esq. 
near this has sprang up in a short space of time, several 
new and tastety buildings. The two larger onesare the 
property of C. Marriott, Esq. that nearest the road in 
which his family resides, is named Temple Cottage, 
the other farther back is tenanted by Mrs. Pigou. 

Proceeding on the Honiton road about a quarter of 
a mile, upon an eminence on the left is Alta Villa, the 
intended residence of R. B. Lloyd, Esq. This has 
every external appearance of a gentleman's house, 
and when the plantations about it arrive to perfec- 
tion, it will be second to no habitation about this 
favoured resort. 

The principal houses in the town are, Myrtle Hall, 
the residence of Henry Manning, Esq.; that built by 
General Grinfield, now the property and residence of 
H. Cutler, Esq.; and the Rev. Mr. Le Merchant's. 

Ascending Mill Lane from Mr. Oxenham's on the 
left hand, is Rose Cottage ; a very neat house, built by 
Mr. Wm. Stocker, now the residence of Mrs. Cawne. 
Opposite, he has erected another, at present occupied 
by — GuttCras, Esq. 

Further up Mill Lane, and at the corner of Church 
Lane, is the Rustic Cottage of Lord Cwydir, which, 
when the family are absent, is permitted to be seen bv 
strangers. The exterior of this house, which was 
altered by his Lordship from a farm house called Old 
Hayes, has a fancifui and unique appearance. Its 
garden, which is but small, is partly an orchard: on 
the whole northern side of it runs a covered walk of 



44 

uncommon simplicity and beauty. The roof, the 
interior of which is formed of straight sticks, with the 
bark left on, is supported by two rows of oaken pol- 
lards, round which roses, honey-suckles, the clematis, 
and other climbing shrubs and flowers, twine them- 
selves. The walk is terminated by a small room, with 
seats, framed of the same rustic materials, which has 
the appearance of a hermitage, or chapel; the whole 
has very much the air of the cloister of some reli- 
gious edifice. 
ir£ Adjoining to Lord Gwydir^s is Spring Gardens, the 

t/ residence for the last years, and is at present tenanted 
by Rear- Admiral Macnamara. Immediately beyond 
this is the peculiarly neat and comfortable house of 
— Rogers, Esq. and in the field opposite Lord Gwydir's 
is Powys Cottage, the residence of Mrs. Powys Floyd; 
a second specimen of that Lady's elegant and ha ppy 
taste. The length of the building is 120 feet, the 
middle division of which is a conservatory. It is sur- 
rounded with beautiful shrubberies, walks, and garden 
ground, and commands a fine view of the church em- 
bosomed in rich foliage, with the sea in the distance. 

On a beautiful eminence, to the north of the resi- 
dence of — Rogers, Esq. a few years ago, Lord Le 
Despenser erected a Marine Villa. It is a large thatched 
building, forming nearly a quadrangle. It contains 
about forty rooms, many of which are large, and fitted 
up in a style of simple elegance. His Lordship sold 
this fanciful mansion before it was completed. Being 
offered as a lodging-house, it was hired by the late 
Marquis of Bute. Subsequently, it was purchased by 
s , Wm. Fauquier, Esq. whose property it still remains. 
The view from it-is extremely rich and picturesque. 

Still ascending Mill Lane, on the right hand, oppo- 
site Cotmaton, is the residence of the Reverend James 



45 
Bernard. This gentleman has shewn great taste, both 
in the internal and external alterations, by which he 
has converted a mean looking brick house into one of 
the most interesting cottages in the vicinity of Sid- 
mouth. The judicious manner in which he has thinned 
the luxuriant trees and shrubs with which he found 
the grounds crowded, while it enlarges his prospects, 
has really increased the beauty of the scene. Trees 
are, no doubt, a great beauty in a landscape ; but it is 
possible to have too many of them. 

Passing some small cottages, Miss Mills's pretty 
house, and Mr. Hobson's Lodge, we find, nearly oppo- 
site to the first turning on the left, a large and commo- 
dious house, beautifully situated upon a commanding 
eminence, with a fine and extensive prospect of land 
and water, the property of John Carslake, Esq.— On 
the other side the road, is Miss Wrighte's Shrubbery 
arid Carriage-way— opposite to which, is Helens, a 
house belonging to the Reverend Edmund Butcher, 
which is for hire ; and next to it, is the handsome 
mansion of Edward Lee, Esq. considerable additions to 
which have lately been made, and the shrubs and trees 
in its front, and on its wings, are every year, increasing 
its beauty. Both these houses are delightfully situated; 
and, between the trees, which flourish luxuriantly about 
them, have charming views of the sea and the sur- 
rounding country. 

Proceeding towards the hill, the extremely neat 
lodge of Peak House, the property and residence of the 
hospitable Emanuel fiaruh Lousada, Esq. is the next 
object of attention. The drive from the lodge up to the 
house is uncommonly fine— on the right hand a shrub- 
bery full of fragrance and beauty, through the greater 
part of which, there is a serpentine foot-path, and on 
the left an unbroken view of the ocean, at all times an 

G 



46 
interesting and elevating spectacle. The mansion itself, 
which has been built by that gentleman, with its 
grounds and gardens, in which still further improve- 
ments are projected, is a delightful abode. It is a 
considerably elevated situation, and commands a fine 
reach of the ocean, the white and yellow cliffs of Bere, 
Charmouth, and Bridport, and the bold promontory 
of Portland. 

Considerably above Mr. Baruh's, erected by him 
and standing on his estate, are five or six small houses ; 
one is a fanciful building, which, before its battlements 
were removed, had something of the appearance of a 
small fort. The other, has a veranda, and a stable and 
coach-house attached to it. It is needless to add, that 
a noble, diversified and extensive view, presents itself, 
from the windows of each of these mountain houses. 

On the southern extremity of Peak Hill stood a 
signal house, now happily untenanted. In fine weather, 
this is often the boundary of a ride or a walk, and the 
lovers of landscape beauty, not only from this point, 
but in the several stages of their progress, are richly 
rewarded for the labour of the ascent, by the vast pano- 
rama which spreads its ample circle around them. Sea 
and land unite in this picture. If any vessels are 
passing, here they must be visible ; and on the land 
'side the prospect is replete with all the charms which 
nature and art can give to such a scene. The ridges of 
the hills, which, in every direction, bound the view, 
are for the most part without cultivation ; but this 
comparative sterility only serves to augment the rich- 
ness of the general prospect: by the contrast, the fine 
foliage of the trees and hedges is shown to the greater 
advantage, Fertility and beauty unite in every part of 
the scene ; the landscape is complete; the earth clothed 
with verdure, the air balmy and refreshing, orchards 



47 
and gardens, hills of all dimensions, large stacks of hay 
and corn, and a multitude of habitations, many of them 
a pure white, which harmonizes so well with the azure 
above and the green below. The tops of the hills 
afford full scope for the entertainment and health 
which are combined in equestrian exercise. ^ 

At the western extremity of the Fort Field, is Bel-yP**^^ . 
mont, the property of Sir Joseph Scott, Bart, who has 
made very considerable additions and improvements, 
both in the house and grounds, since it came into his 
possession. 

In a narrow low slip of ground, called a ham, 
immediately adjoining, which is watered by a serpen- 
tine stream, and by nature forming a lovely dell, lies 
Woolbrooke Cottage, the property of Major-General 
Baynes, and the residence, during his short stay here, 
of his late Royal Highness the lamented Duke of Kent, 
his Duchess, and their suite. — No expence has been 
spared by the General to make this charming retreat 
complete. A sight of it must command admiration. 

Close by the church-yard, commanding a beautiful 
view into the country, and looking upon a pleasant 
meadow, is Amy at' 's Place, a row of small houses, built 
in an uniform manner by the late J. Amyat, Esq.— On 
the opposite side of the meadow four houses are 
erecting, which when completed are to be named 
Cobourg Terrace-, that finished at the eastern extremity 
is occupied by the Rev. Edmund Butcher. 

On the right hand side of the lane, immediately 
above Sir John Kennaway's stables, two small lodging- 
houses form one side of a square, the higher end of 
which is occupied by a neat house, termed, from the 
year in which it was erected, Jubilee Cottage. 

On the left hand of the lane, beyond Rafarel's stables, 
stands an old house, with a garden and summer house, 



48 
which looks into the Fort Field, and has a fine view of 
Peak Hill. Behind Rosemount, is a small neat box, 
which bears the name of Elm-tree Cottage. 

The house built by the Rev. P. Story is a plain, 
handsome building, in one of the most secluded situa- 
tions in Sidmouth ; it had formerly a pleasant garden, 
between what may be called the High-street and the 
Church, but which is now leased to an eminent 
gardener. — When this House possessed the great ac- 
quisition of a pleasure ground, &c. it afforded to an 
invalid the most delightful retreat imaginable. 

On the eastern side of Sidmouth valley, after passing 
down the marsh, and leaving on the left hand Mr. 
Baker's brewery, the Sidmouth School appears (en- 
closed within a brick wall). It was established June 
22d, IS 12, for the education of the infant poor, in the 
principles of the Established Church, according to Dr. 
Bell's plan, and is supported by voluntary subscriptions. 

Patron, Patroness, and Presidents. 
The Rt. Hon. Lord Gwydiu and Lady Willoughby. 

Spiritual Governor. 
The Vicar of Sidmouth for the time being. 

Vice Presidents and Committee. 
Lady Kennaway, Sir J. Kennaway, Bart. 

Mrs. Jenkins, Sir Jos. Scott, Bart. 

Mrs. Hobson, The Rev. J. Hobson, 

Mrs. Pcwys Floyd, Rev. W. Jenkins, jun. 

Mrs. Ful ford, ' Geo. Cornish, Esq. 

Mrs. Reynolds, E. B. Lousada, Esq. 

Henry Cutler, Esq. 

Treasurer, Mr. John Newbery. 



49 

" August 23, 1814.— At a Meeting of the Subscri- 
bers, held at the School Room, it was resolved— 

" That this meeting see with considerable satisfac- 
tion the increasing utility of this institution, and are 
gratified at finding that nearly fifty children are now 
educating in the school." 

At the end of 1819, the school contained 23 girls 
and 72 boys. Still further on is the Poor House ; and 
next to the Corn Mill, a neat house belonging to Mr. 
Marman. Having crossed the wooden bridge, you are 
conveyed into Salcombe parish. Directly opposite the 
the bridge is the private foot path to Salcombe Hill, 
the mansion of George Cornish, Esq. This edifice, 
which has a handsome colonade in front, and the luxu- 
riant and beautiful scenery with which it is surrounded, 
enrich and adorn the eastern boundary of Sidmouth. 

Myrtle Cottage, originally decorated by the taste of 
Miss Campbell, is delightfully situated, immediately 
under Salcombe Hill. The exterior of its garden, is 
washed by the Sid. Its last possessor, A. J. Ram, Esq. 
has added a green-house, and at a great ex pence, very 
much enlarged and improved the premises, contributing 
in an eminent degree, to the truly attractive scenery 
of Sidmouth. One of the principal beauties of this 
scenery, is Egypt Cottage, pleasantly perched, like 
a nest in a grove, upon the lowest ridge of Salcombe 
hill, directly above Myrtle Cottage, the residence of the 
Rev. G. J. Cornish. 

From the grounds of George Cornish, Esq. which 
extend to the sea, a near view of the town is to be 
obtained— the little bay in which it is secluded— many 
of the indentations of the coast— the deep-ribbed side 
of the High Peak, the western boundary of the ever- 
memorable Torbay, and Berry-Head, which appears 
plunging into the distant waves, and marking the lino 



50 

■frhich separates the sky from the land. It is thought 
that the most extensive land view is to be had from 
this eastern height; the eye ranges over a space of at 
least forty miles, and rests the extremity of its vision 
upon the most elevated points of Dartmoor, 

The public road towards Lyme passes in front of 
Mount Pleasant, the property of Mrs. Pollard. 

On the left hand, in Sid Lane, delightfully situated 
in a fine lawn, and surrounded with sylvan scenery, is 
Salcombe House, the property, and, for a part of the 
year, the residence of the Rev. Mr. Cockburn: the 
river, which runs through the grounds, and on the side 
of which there is a walk open to the public, is, espe- 
cially when swollen by rain, a fine feature in the 
landscape. 

A little beyond Salcombe House is Hill's Cottage, 
now the property of the Misses Leigh, late of Slade. — 
On the right hand of the lane beyond, is the new 
house of Thomas Lyde, Esq. and in a field nearly 
opposite, the elegant box of R. Miles, Esq. At a still 
greater distance from the town, lies Sid Cliff, the 
secluded and truly romantic cottage of J. Bacon, Esq. 
The building beyond Sid Cliff Cottage, has been 
named Sid Ahbeyj for what reason it is difficult to 
conceive, as the house, previous to its coming into the 
hands of the present posssessor, formed the stables be- 
longing to Sid Cliff. A considerable sum of money has 
been expended to form the present residence. The 
prospect however at the back part is very rich and 
picturesque. 

Subscriptions are now open for throwing a neat 
bridge over the river Sid. The new road is intended 
to be cut through the corner of the lawn belonging to 
Salcombe House, and to be continued on the opposite 
side of the river, through a field the property of the 



51 

Rev. Win. Jenkins, to enter the main road from Exeter 
■and Honiton between the Vicarage and the corner of 
Mill Lane. This improvement will not only be orna- 
mental to the town, but of infinite advantage to the 
higher class of inhabitants in Salcombe parish. 

For the indulgence of that occasional retirement 
from the world which is so conducive to health of 
body, and to the refreshment and vigour of the mind, 
and in which wise and virtuous spirits have, at all 
times, so much delighted, the immediate vicinity of 
Sidmouth is peculiarly calculated : — it abounds with 
lanes, many of them of considerable length and variety, 
more or less sequestered, and at all times perfectly 
safe, in which, either on foot or horseback, the delights 
of solitude, or of society upon a small scale, may be 
enjoyed. The beach, on the contrary, offers to such as 
are most happy in a crowd, whose grand enjoyment it 
is to see and be seen, a walk, in which, at almost all 
times, amusement and health are to be found. Few, 
indeed, are those days in the year, on which, in some 
part or other of them, if not the whole, a promenade 
on the beach is not dry and agreeable. 

After a storm, considerable quantities of marine 
plants, which have been torn from the beds upon 
which they grow, are left upon the sand and pebbles 
below the beach:— as the drying and preserving of 
these is, to many, a very interesting amusement, the 
follcwing directions, taken from ' Donovans Instruc- 
tions for collecting and preserving Subjects of Natural 
History,' are submitted to their notice. 

" All the smaller plants should be expanded under 
water, in a plate, upon a piece of writing-paper, 
sunk to the bottom. In this state they will assume 
their natural form and position. The paper, with the 
plant upon it, must be withdrawn from the water 



52 
gently; and the plant and paper must afterwards be 
placed between two or three sheets of blotting-paper, 
and pressed with a book or flat board. When taken 
from hence, it is to be put between fresh sheets of 
paper, until all the moisture appears to be gone. It is 
then to be laid up in a quire of blotting-paper, under 
pressure, for a day or two, when, if dry, it may be placed 
permanently upon writing-paper. The larger coria- 
ceous kinds require a good deal of drying, in successive 
changes of paper, and in a very dry room, or near the 
fire. When once dried, and put into a herbarium, 
they seldom become damp again.'* 



BATHING, 

that salutary and pleasant custom, that chief avowed 
reason for which such numbers every year quit the 
towns, and crowd to the coast of our island, and so 
important an article to the invalid, is, at Sidmouth, 
both commodious and reasonable. Eight machines, 
which are conveniently placed a little to the westward 
of the town, are constantly ready: the terms are, one 
shilling for each gentlemen the first time, and sixpence 
for every time afterwards. Ladies one shilling and six- 
pence the first time, and one shilling after. 



WARM SEA BATHS, 

fitted up in an extremely convenient and comfortable 
stile, have been established both by Mr. Hodge, and 
Messrs. Stocker and Longmore ; they embrace every 
mode of bathing. The former having been exclusively 
used by their Royal Highnesses the (late) Duke and 



53 
Duchess of Kent and suite, are best known as the 
Royal Baths,— The New Baths are charmingly situated 
in the centre of York Terrace. 

To assist these means of preserving and restoring 
health, there is a resident Physician, Dr. James Mat- 
thews, with four or five Surgeons and Apothecaries. 

Chemicals and drugs of the most superior qualities, 
are professed to be sold by Mr. Penn, at his Narthe- 
cium, and by Mr. George Atkins in the High-street, at 
both of which houses, approved Patent Medicines 
are vended. 

SEA BATHING. 

Those persons who are fond of swimming, or pre* 
.fer bathing without the use of a machine, should be 
informed, that a little to the west of the beach there is 
a fine sequestered bay, in which they may, in calm 
weather, be safely gratified. The border is a fine 
sand; upon which, at high water, the bather may 
walk out for a long distance, without being immersed 
higher than the breast. While it is our duty to ac- 
quaint visitors of this acquisition, it is our first wish to 
recommend the use of Machines ; both for the benefit 
of the proprietors and the bather, particularly the 
invalid. The piunge into the element should assuredly 
supersede the practice of walking in by degrees. 

" Sea bathing," says Dr. Buchan, " is good for one 
reason, because the sea is a cold bath. The time ot 
bathing ought to be postponed till past noon, or at 
least till some hours after breakfast, when the digestion 
of that meal may be supposed to be terminated ; and 
such a degree of exercise should always be taken pre- 
viously to entering the water, as may be sufficient to 

H 



54 
produce a sensation of a warmth over the whole body. 
By no means go into the water chilly." 



CLIMATE. 

The air of Sid mouth is sometimes moist, but 
always pure, and, with very few exceptions, mild and 
soft. There are no stagnant waters in its vicinity, but, 
as has been already remarked, a number of the purest 
streams constantly flowing. 

Many of the faculty think the air of Sidmouth 
equal to that of the south of France, and very com- 
monly recommend it to invalids, particularly to those 
who are affected by, or have a tendency to, consump- 
tions. The natives and stated inhabitants of the place 
are, in general, healthy and strong, and live to a good 
old age. Eighty and ninety are ages frequently to be 
met with, and some few live to more than a hun- 
dred years. 

A striking proof of the mildness of the Sidmouth 
air is, that both the large and small leaved myrtles are 
planted out of doors, and bear the winter without any 
shelter; against many houses and garden walls they 
rise to a great height. All kinds of geraniums, phusias, 
and other tender plants, flourish luxuriantly at this 
place, with very little attention. 

It is remarkable, that storms very seldom occur in 
this part of Devonshire; the thunder is generally very 
distant, and the lightning mild and beautiful; it is often 
seen when no thunder can be heard— a proof that the 
explosion takes place at a great distance. This gene- 
ral freedom of the south of Devonshire from storms 
is so established a fact, that Mrs. Piozzi, who, in the 



year 178S, passed some time at Exmouth, thus empha- 
tically refers to it, in a prologue which she wrote for a 
company of itinerant players, who were then perform- 
ing at that place. 

" By many a wave, by many alempest tost, 
Our shipwreck'd hopes we cast on Devon's coast, 
Where the soft season swells the ripening grain, 
And verdure brightens with refreshing rain ; 
Where lightnings never glare, nor thunders roar, 
And chilling blasts forget their freezing power." 

Occasional storms, however, are by no means to be 
considered as an unnecessary part of the economy of 
nature. •' After, by a storm, the lower stratum of the 
atmosphere has been throughly mixed with the surface 
of the water of the sea, the air is more pure and salu- 
brious. Even hurricanes improve the healthiness of 
the climates where they take place."— How just, as 
well as pious upon this subject, is the remark of 
Dr. Buchan! 

" Thus, while contemplating the tempest, that in 
its rage appears to convolve sea and sky, we learn to 
revere the Author of nature, who in his wisdom has 
ordained this awful instrument, which, while it sweeps 
from the surface of the earth that noxious vapour, 
whose accumulation would eventually put an end to 
animal existence) blends it with the agitated waters 
of the ocean, in whose bosom it becomes harmless, 
and is, probably, rendered subservient to some useful 
purpose." 

Sometimes, at Sidmouth, as in other parts of Eng- 
land, a very hot day occurs, and then the following 
account, given by Dr. Maton, is accurate; but it is 
seldom that, even in such eases, the heat is not tern- 



5(5 
pered by a refreshing breeze. " At the time of a clear 
bummer sk)', Sidmouth is intensely hot: its low situa- 
tion, a broad bed of pebbles, and the glare of the lofty 
red cliffs, act as so many reverberators." 

The West of England has been commonly consi- 
dered as more rainy than almost any other part of the 
island. This is by no means a well-established fact. 
A gentleman, at Plymouth, not long ago, assured us, in 
one of the periodical publications, that, by comparing 
the accounts which he, and a friend of his in the upper 
part of Yorkshire, had kept for some years, of the 
quantity of rain which fell in those two distant points, 
the balance was in favour of the West; that is, during 
that period more rain fell in Yorkshire than at Ply- 
mouth. In the vicinity of the sea, and in the neigh- 
bourhood of lofty hills, it may, perhaps, be admitted, 
that in general more rain falls than in an open level 
country. 

A gentleman of Sidmouth has furnished this work 
with the following table of the number of days on 
which any rain has fallen at that place, since the 1st of 
January 1800. Perhaps on full half of them, only one 
shower, and that, frequently, an inconsiderable one, 
caused the day on which it fell to be put on the black 
list, in looking, therefore, at the number of wet days, 
this circumstance is to be recollected. 

RAIN AT SIDMOUTH: 

Years. Wet. Dry. 

1800 ..... 146 219 

1801 147 218 

1802 147 218 

1803 134 231 

1804 ... \ . 162 203 



57 

Years. Wet. Dry. 

1805 151 .... . 214 

1806 178 187 

1807 165 200 

1808 178 187 

1809 192 173 

1810 182 183 

1811 185 180 

1812 175 ..... 190 

1813 147 ..... 218 

1814 147 ♦ .... 218 

1815 170 193 

1816 ..... 121 244 

1817 178 . , ... 187 

1818 162 203 

1819 170 ..... 195 

In these twenty years, therefore, the average num- 
ber of wet days, as before described, appears to be 
161 and 17 oyer. 



METEOROLOGICAL OBSERVATIONS. 



Lowest State of the Thermometer at the following places, 
Friday morning, February 9, 1816. 

Stamford Hal], Leicestershire, a little aften 
eight o'clock in the morning . . > 
Nottingham, half past seven . 
Exeter, by a Register . 

Heavitree, at eight ..... 
Sidmouth, by a Register . . . 



o 




1 





4 


2 


18 





21 





21 






5S 

Lowest Slate of the Thermometer at the following places, 

Saturday morning, January 15, 1820. 

Blackheath ...... below Zero. 

Stratford, near Bow 1 

Tottenharn, Middlesex ..... 1 

Lewes, Sussex 2| 

Eltham, Kent . . . . . . .4 

Staffordshire 6 

Shropshire 7 

Barton-street, Westminster 9 

Exeter ........ 13f 

Sidmouth . 16 

The Thermometer at Sidmouth, situated north-east 
at Wallis's Royal Marine Library, during the severe 
January of 1820, average 36°, was never below 16°, 
and several days between 40° and 50°. 



NATURAL PRODUCTIONS. 

Among the cliffs, and in the beautiful shady lanes 
of Sidmouth, the lover of natural history may find 
much to study, and much to amuse him. The botanist 
may cull a variety of plants, and the admirer of fossils 
collect many of the curious internal productions of the 
earth. Pholens of great beauty are occasionally met 
with, and the stones of the cliffs, many of them, are 
mixed with echince marines, petrified coral, and other 
similar productions. The cornu ammonis is to be found 
here, of all sizes ; one of the inhabitants of the town 
has got a very fine one, of an embellished metallic 
appearance, above twenty inches in diameter, which 
he found in the cliffs. 



59 

In the little basins, worn by the-waves in the rocks, 
elegant corallines abound; and not unfrequently that 
wonderful marine production the temone, or animal 
flower. It is difficult, indeed impossible, to decide to 
which of the kingdoms of nature, the animal or vege- 
table, this half-animated substance belongs. It possesses 
a kind of fungus consistency, by which it adheres to 
the rocks, while the part presented to the eye has the 
appearance of a multitude of small snakes, of various 
and beautiful colours, which diverging from a centre, 
spread into'a circle, something like the corolla of the 
anemone, from which it derives its name— these threads 
are in constant motion. This creature is found in the 
little pools among the rocks, where it is constantly 
covered with water. 

Spars, transparent and crystalized, in various forms, 
particularly the rhomboidal and hexangular, are found 
in various parts of Devonshire. On a great number of 
the lime rocks, calcareous incrustations are found. 
Lime and marble are produced in almost all parts of 
the country, except the moor-stone districts. Many of 
these marbles, as the chimney-pieces of most of the 
new houses of Sidmouth prove, for their hardness and 
beautiful veinings, rival the best Italian marble, and 
when polished, fall very little short of it in lustre. 
Most of the marble of Devonshire which is not black, 
is a sort of flesh colour, with brownish spots and viens 
of different shades. The late Lord Courtenay had 
specimens of all the different marbles in this county, in 
small squares, polished; and Lord Clifford has lately 
presented a large table, formed of similar materials, to 
the " Literary and Philosophical Institution" at 
Exeter. Some very good specimens of this coast are 
to be met with, and a great variety from Cornwall and 



60 
the neighbourhood, at Kingwill's Repository in the 
Marsh, where may be seen fine specimens of the 
Devonshire marble. 



THE LIME 

upon this coast is, in general, very plentiful, and some 
of it of a very good quality. It is used in great quanti- 
ties for manure, as well as the usual purposes to which 
lime is applied. A lime-stone quarry was wrought 
some years ago, at Little Gatcombe, in the parish of 
Colyton. There are lime quarries at Branscombe and 
Salcombe, which are worked in the following manner : 
The workmen cut a large opening near the sea, take 
oft' the head, wheel it to the ciiff, and there discharge 
their loads into the sea, as the cliff is exceedingly high 
and steep. They have kilns upon the spot to burn 
the lime. The cliffs on each side of Torbay, Berry- 
head, Hope's-nose, and so round to Babbacombe, are 
entirely of lime-stone. 

Alabaster is found in great plenty in the cliffs near 
Sidmouth, as well as in various other parts of Devon- 
shire; its texture is granular, with shining particles; 
it is a deposition from the water that distils through 
the lime-stone rocks. 

As Geology, a branch of science so highly inte- 
resting in itself, is every day becoming more popular, 
the author of this work is happy in having it in his 
power to enrich it with the following geological remarks 
upon South Devon, from the pen of Mr. Robert Bake- 
well, Mineralogical Surveyor, the well-known author 
of the Introduction to Geology, &c. 



61 



" TO THE REV. E. BUTCHER. 

" My dear Sir, 

" In compliance with your request to communicate 
my observations on the geology of the country in the 
vicinity of Sidmouth, I send you the following brief 
remarks on some of the leading features, which may 
interest the general reader. 

" The southern coast, from Portland Head to Ex- 
mouth, exhibits a fine section of the different strata as 
they rise in succession to the south-west, the sea having 
laid bare the surface, and presented a perpendicular 
face of rock nearly along the whole line. The southern 
counties, east of Portland, Hampshire, Sussex and 
Kent, are almost exclusively occupied with rocks of 
the chalk formation, and their accompanying beds of 
sand and clay. The roe-stone which succeeds, termi- 
nates at Portland. Between Portland and Bridport 
Bay there appears to have been a considerable break in 
the strata, and the green sand, which, in its regular 
position, is above the roe-stone, may be seen rising 
from the sea, east of Bridport : this stratum, which is 
provincially called fox-mold, extends far to the west, 
as we shall have subsequently to observe. 

" The blue lias, covered by the green sand, rises 
from the sea near Bridport, and extends from thence to 
the river Ax, with little interruption. This is the most 
remarkable and best characterized of any of the British 
strata; the whole thickness of this bed cannot be less 
than two hundred yards. It is composed of numerous 
thin strata of dark grey lime-stone, combined with much 
clay and iron, and some manganese. Many of the 
strata form an excellent water lime-stome; the beds of 
i 



62 
dark clay which intervene abound with pyrites, and 
have been known to take fire spontaneously. The 
strata rises gradually to the south-west, but there are 
numerous faults, or breaks, which throw them down 
on the western side of such breaks from ten to 
thirty feet. 

" Large masses from the perpendicular cliffs of lias 
are constantly falling down, and discovering the im- 
bedded petrifactions of numerous tribes of extinct 
animals. The lias limestone is the lowest of the British 
limestones that contain the remains of oviparous qua- 
drupeds, or of any vertebrated animals, that is, such 
which have a brain and spinal marrow. Remains of 
fossil alligators, in a mutilated state, are very frequently 
found. I was fortunate enough to obtain part of 
a small jaw, very perfect ; on comparing it with the 
drawings of Cuvier, it nearly resembles that of the 
Gangetic crocodile. About a mile west of Lyme, there 
is a small formation of chalk at Pinney, resting on the 
fox-mold, over the lias. The lias continues to near 
Axminster, where several of the lower beds lose their 
dark grey colour, and are called white lias. This white 
lias may be seen distinctly resting on the red marie 
east of Axminster. 

" It may be proper to observe, that the same bed 
of lias runs northward, through Dorset, Somersetshire 
and Gloucestershire, and into some of the northern 
counties of England, carrying with it, in its whole 
extent, numerous fossil remains of ammonites, penta- 
crinites, nautilites, scaly fish and the bones of alligators. 
Near Bath, it is more indurated and crystaline than in 
Dorsetshire. The red marie, which succeeds the lias, 
is suddenly broken on the west side of the Ax, and a 
small formation of chalk makes its appearance at Beer, 
where we are presented with a fantastic range of chalk 



63 

rocks and caverns, the chalk forming perpendicular 
cliffs, projecting into the sea. The fox mold, or green 
sand, succeeds, and then the red marie, which extends 
from near Beer to Sidmouth, and to the west of Ex- 
mouth, constituting a range of precipitous cliffs, rising 
from the sea more than 800 feet, in several parts of its 
course, particularly in Salcombe and Peak Hills. The 
red marie, as it has been denominated by some geolo- 
gists, consists of silicious particles, mixed with clay, 
and deeply coloured by the red oxyd of iron : various 
beds of stratified sand-stone occur in it, particularly at 
Heavitree, near Exeter ; these strata are evidently of 
mechanical formation, and contain imbedded fragments 
of slate, nnd amygdaloid, similar to the rocks on the 
west of Exeter. 

" Geologists have been perplexed, in attempting to 
class the red marie with the rocks in Werner's system, 
some supposing it to occupy the place of what he deno- 
minates the old red sand-stone. But without stopping 
to inquire what place it occupies in any geological 
system, I will briefly state what place it really occupies 
in Devonshire. 

" I have before observed, that it rises from under 
the lias lime-stone ; now where this lime-stone occurs 
it is always above the coal formation, but, in the south 
of Devon, the coal formation is entirely wanting, 
and also the mountain lime-stone under the coal, and 
the red marie supplies the place of both, extending 
from the river Ax to some miles west of the Ex, where 
it is found resting on coarse slate, provincialiy called 
shillet.— The east side of Exeter stands' on the red 
marie, the west on the slate or shillet. Near the ter- 
mination of red marie on the west, various rocks of 
basaltic formation, provincialiy called dun-stone, fre- 



64 

quenlly occur between the slate and the red marie, and, 
in many parts, the rocks of dun-stone project through 
the red marie. 

"The dun-stone differs much in its quality; in 
some parts it is a sienite, and passes into green-stone, or 
trap, in other parts it is more like what the Germans 
would call a compact grey wacke; sometimes it as- 
sumes all the appearance of real lava, containing 
numerous hollow cells, and presenting a dry and burnt 
aspect: in this state it cannot be distinguished from 
many volcanic lavas. Were I to hazard a conjecture 
respecting the formation of the red marie, I should 
say that it had been derived from the debris, or waste, 
of extensive basaltic rocks, of which the present rocks 
of dun-stone are only the remains, and it adds probabi- 
lity to this opinion, that the red marie on the east side 
of the dun-stone is always fdled with fragments of the 
same kind of rock with that which is in its more im- 
mediate vicinity. For a knowledge of this fact, I am 
indebted to B. VY. Johnson, Esq. Surgeon, Exeter. 
The red marie, in some parts, contains beds of gypsum, 
and I should not think it improbable that rock-salt or 
brine-springs may exist in some parts of Devon occu- 
pied by this extensive stratum. 1 now return to speak 
of the green sand or fox-mold, which, 1 hough a mem- 
ber of the chalk formation, and immediately subjacent 
to chalk, is carried not only over the lias, but over the 
red marie, and forms caps on many of the highest hills, 
from Black Down, on the east, to Hal Down, six miles 
west of Exeter; it contains numerous silicious masses 
conglomerated, in which a kind of opaque hornstone 
may be traced, passing into fiint— the flint also may be 
traced passing into beautiful calcedony, and the calce- 
dony again forming into quartz crystals. I am satis- 



65 

fied that the process is now going on, though we are 
at present unacquainted with the causes by which it is 
effected. Numerous marine shells, ammonites, &c. 
occur in the green sand, proving incontestibly, that the 
highest hills in this part of Devonshire were once 
buried under the waves of the ocean, of which we 
have also a further proof in the heaps of rounded peb- 
bles and gravel on the high ground between Sidmouth 
and Exeter. It would be foreign to.the purport of 
my letter to describe the rocks below the red marie and 
dun-stone, but I may just observe, that the slate round 
Dartmoor is remarkably twisted and bent, and contains 
in some parts beds of transition-limestone; it is suc- 
ceeded by granite, which forms the base and summit 
of Dartmoor, and extends from thence, with some 
interruption, to the Land's End in Cornwall. 
" I am, my dear Sir, 
" With much esteem, 
" Tour's very truly, 

" ROB. BAKEWELL." 

"13, Tavistock Street, Bedford Square, 
May 16, 1816." 



The following Sonnet, written upon a return t» 
Sidmouth, will not unsuitably close the first part of 
this little work :— • 

Sidmouth ! Hygeia's chosen seat I 
Again receive me : let me greet 
Thy ruddy cliffs, thy pebbly beach, 
Thy broad majestic ocean reach, 
\nd streams that murmur tbro' thy green retreat. 



66 

Thy primrose banks, thy balmy skies, 
Thy lofty trees which graceful rise, 
Thy lanes and orchards, mountain-bound, 
Thy fields with ceaseless verdure crown'd, 
And every gem w hich Flora's hand supplies. 

Sweet realm of peace, my chosen home, 
To thee with joy again I come : 
The lamp of life but dimly burns, 
But when my step to thee returns, 
Willi brighten'd ray shoots up the ruddy flame, 
And lights afresh the renovated frame. 



THE 

BEAUTIES 

OF 



PART II. 



AMONGST the attractions of a watering-place, thosfe' 
which are contained in the country immediately about 
it, must always be reckoned as some of the most consi- 
derable. It will be the object of this part of the 
volume, to point out the principal rides which branch 
out from Sidmouth. 

The vicinity of Sidmouth, as has been already 
observed, is peculiarly fitted for pleasant rambles, and 
short picturesque rides. There are also several places 
in its neighbourhood, which may serve as good objects 
for still longer excursions ; of these it will be proper 
to give a somewhat detailed account. 

Sidmouth is distant from Otterton three miles, from 
Salterton seven, from Exmouth twelve, from Lymp- 
stone ten, from Topsham twelve, from Exeter fifteen, 
from St. Mary Ottery seven, from Harpford four, from 
Honiton ten, from Colyton nine, from Seaton ten, from 
Beer seven, from Branscombe five, from Salcombe two, 
from Axminster fifteen, and from Lyme sixteen. 



68 



RIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, EASTWARD. 



SALCOMBE, 

or the Salt Vale, now called Salcombe Regis, is a small 
parish, east of Sidmouth, between two and three miles 
broad from west to east, that is, from Sidmouth town 
to a place in Branscombe called Weston Mouth. The 
sea coast of it is thus described. " The cliff beyond 
Sidmouth is of a red stone, beyond which there is a 
narrow valley, at the upper end of which the church 
of Salcombe is situated. Beyond this valley rises ano- 
ther hill, having a high steep cliff towards the sea, the 
lower part of which is of red stone, and the upper part 
of freestone. Dipping towards the sea, on Salcombe 
Head, there is a quarry where stones are dug, as they 
are likewise in a narrow vale, which runs up between 
Salcombe Head and Dunscombe, the next headland 
eastward. The stone here lies near the surface in some 
places. The eastern side of this hill seems to have 
been much worked, and there is little doubt that the 
Salcombe stone, of which so great a quantity was used 
in building the Cathedral of Exeter, was dug on the 
side of this hill ; for there are very few quarries in any- 
other part of the parish. 

The principal sorts of free-stone found in Devon- 
shire, are dug in the adjoining parishes of Salcombe, 
Branscombe and Beer. That at Salcombe is a sandy 
grit, closely united, rather coarser than the Portland 
stone, and very hard. It works easily in the quarry. 
A proof how well it bears the weather, is to be seen at 
the Cathedral of Exeter, the outside of which is all 



69 

built of Salcombe stone, and though some of it has 
been erected six hundred years, it is very little, if at 
all, worn by the weather. The Branscombe stone i9 
not supposed to bear the weather so well ; and the free- 
stone of Beer is of a much softer nature and finer grit 
than that of Salcombe. When hewn out of the quarry, 
the free-stone of Beer cuts as soft as the Bath stone, 
which it greatly resembles. 

The principal village of this parish is Seed, a long 
straggling place, which has been already mentioned as 
lying by the river 5/c?,and containing Salcombe House, 
Hill's Cottage, Sid Cliff, and the house called Sid 
Abbey. The road from Sidmouth to Lyme passes 
through it, and falls into the road from Exeter to 
Lyme, a little to the eastward of Sidford. The hill, 
which begins at this junction, is called Trow Hill, and 
on the top of it, towards the sea, lies Trow, a village of 
six or seven houses. 

Knole or Knowl, a house charmingly situated in a 
small luxuriant valley on the north of Trow Hill, a 
good view of which is to be obtained from a gate at 
the top, has long been the property and residence of 
the Woolcotts. 

Slade House, placed at the head of a most beautiful 
and richly wooded vale, commands a delightful view 
of the sea : it was built by the late William Leigh, Esq. 
and is now the residence of his son : the estate for- 
merly belonged to the Michells of Salcombe. 

Salcombe Church, a small edifice, but built upon a 
handsome model, is dedicated to St. Peter, whose image, 
with the usual insignia of the keys, appears on the out- 
side of the chancel window. There is a room adjoining 
the church, called the Chapel, which was, probably, a 
place of worship before the church was built. 



70 

In this church not many monumental inscriptions 
remain. 

Over a pew in the middle aisle, opposite to the 
pulpit, is a mural monument, which was long since 
erected to the memory of the family of Michell, of 
Slade, in this parish. On this monument are the arms 
of Michell impaling those of Roice, and the inscription 
has heen continued, and includes the date of the death 
of Captain Thomas Michell,. the last male of the name, 
on the 8th of September, 1785, by his only nephew, 
Isaac Heard, Garter Principal King of Arms. 

This family of Michell, previously to their removal 
to Slade, resided for nearly two centuries in a mansion 
called " Seaside House" within the parish of Brans- 
combe, (now a farm-house belonging to Lady Rolle, 
and tenanted by Mr. Bartlett:) its situation is salubrious, 
beautiful, retired and luxuriant, and near the sea. 
There is an interesting tradition in the family, which 
has been conveyed to us by a respectable authority, 
viz. : That when James Duke of Monmouth landed at 
Lyme, in June 1685, a great number of people followed 
him and his party ; many from ignorance, many from 
curiosity, and doubtless some, perhaps many, from 
dislike to the government of King James II. After 
the defeat of the Duke at Sedgemore, the west of 
England was subjected to the most wanton ravages of 
military tyranny, under the orders of Feversham and 
his followers. The savage Kirke became the execu- 
tioner of numbers at and in the vicinity of Bridgewater ; 
and the inhuman and infamous Jefteries followed, to 
complete, by the rigours of the law, the work of 
destruction. Hundreds of poor, ignorant, and unde- 
signing " rebels" (as they were called) were condemned 
to death by terrified juries, and their quarters hung up, 



71 

in terrorem, in the different cross-ways. Pomfret, in 
his Poem entitled " Cruelty and Lust," has patheti- 
cally described the monster Kirke ! 

According to the tradition above mentioned, a num- 
ber of these unfortunate persons informed against for 
having been seen among Monmouth's followers, yet 
wholly innocent as to any overt act of rebellion, or 
intention of committing any offensive acts, were shel- 
tered in a cavern, or secret recess or recesses, on the 
sea-shore, near to Sea-side House, the mansion of 
the Michells, and supported with provisions by John 
Michell, Esq. the great-grandfather of Sir Isaac Heard, 
and his wife, during several weeks, or, at least, until 
the fury of the judge and executioners, and the rigour 
of the government under James, had begun to subside. 

The above-mentioned John Mitchell (who was a 
steady adherent of the royalist party) paid <£140. as a 
composition for his estate, as appears by a list of the 
nobility, clergy and gentry, who compounded for their 
estates in Devonshire in 1655. The estate was after- 
wards wrested from him by the violence of the times, 
but re-purchased — yet he met rather better treatment 
than many others;— for William Isack, of Gittisham, 
Esq. father of his wife Joan, was considered to be a 
strong adherent of the Cromweliian interest. This 
John Michell died in 1710, aged 80— his wife Joan, 
the sole daughter and heir of the said William Isack, 
in September 1730, aged 100— and Ursula Michell, 
his mother, whose family name was Drake, died in 
1690, aged also 100. These three persons were buried 
in Branscombe Church ; and their advanced ages may 
be adduced as some proof of the salubrity of the air in 
which they resided. 

Pvisdon says, " Salcombe is a place numbered 
amongst those which King Canute bequeathed to the 



72 
church of St. Peter in Exeter, to expatiate his father 
Swaine's barbarous cruelty against the church in these 
parts." A neat modern parsonage-house, situated near 
the church, at the foot of a beautiful little hill, has a 
peculiarly snug and comfortable appearance. 

The village itself consists of about eight houses, 
including Coombe, a farm, about two-thirds of the way 
between the church and the sea, and under delightful 
hanging woods, the residence of Mr. William Follett. 
Few places are more susceptible of improvement than 
this charming spot. Nature has done so much, that 
art has only to bestow a few embellishing touches: 
there is much to adorn, but nothing to create. 

" England's Gazetteer," published in 1751, under 
the article " Salcombe," says, " In the civil wars, here 
•was a fort, called Charles Fort, bravely defended against 
the Parliament forces, by Sir Edmund Fortescue, 
though he was at last forced to capitulate." 



BRANSCOMBE 

lies east of Salcombe. This is a most romantic spot: 
the lofty clitf's which defend it from the sea, are in 
many parts of it, paralelled at a small distance by inland 
hills, which abound with orchards., hanging woods, and 
enclosures, covered with grass or grain. Three vallies, 
forming a sort of triangle, meet near the church, which 
stands nearly in the middle of the parish. Through 
each of these vallies rapid streams descend, which, 
uniting in the bottom, flow on together to the ocean. 
Branscombe is separated from Beer by a small brook. 
" It coasteth the sea," says Risdon, " and is full of 
coombes and vallies." 



73 
In Weston, a village of four farm houses, all but 
one of which are in ruins, John Stuckey, Esq. some 
years ago erected a handsome mansion : the old man- 
sion and estate descended to him by inheritance ; by 
him it was bequeathed to its present possessor, J. Bart- 
let Stuckey, Esq. 

Edge, or Egge, in this parish, situated on an oval 
hill, was the dwelling-place of Richard Branscombe, in 
the reign of Edward III. It soon afterwards came to 
Sir John Wadham, the Judge; who, though remark- 
able for fluency of speech, never talked but with gra- 
vity and discretion, and who tempered all his words 
and actions with spirit and judgment. His reputation 
as a lawyer was very high. To his original estates he 
made many additions, among which was the rich 
manor of Silverton. He died in the reign of Henry IV. 
and was most probably buried in the family vault in 
Branscombe Church. The family of Wadham, who 
derived their name from the place of their origin and 
habitation, Wadham, near South Molton, possessed 
Edge for eight descents, in a direct line, Jive of whom 
were knights. The last of the family, Nicholas Wad- 
ham, of Edge, married Dorothy, the daughter of Sir 
William Petre. Having no issue, his sister's children 
became his heirs; but as he had made a very large 
addition to his patrimony, he determined to lay it out 
in founding a college. To him, therefore, and Dorothy 
his wife, Oxford is indebted for the foundation and 
establishment of Wadham College. 

Branscombe Church, dedicated to St. Winifred, 
supposed to have been a native of Devonshire, is larger 
than St. Peter's, at Salcombe. It contains some monu- 
ments : on that erected to the memory of John Wad- 
ham, " time," says Prince, " has rendered somewhat 
imperfect the following inscription : 



74 
11 Here lieth iatombed the body of a virtuous and ancient gen- 
tlewoman, descended of the ancient house of the Plantagenets, 
sometime of Cornwall, namely Joan, one of the daughters and 
heirs unto John Tregarthin in the county of Cornwall, Esq. She 
was first married unto John Kellaway, Esq. who had by her much 
issue: after his death, she was married to John Wadham, of Me- 

rifield, in the county of Somerset, Esq. and by him had 

children. She lived a virtuous and godly life, and died in an ho- 
nourable age, September in the year of Christ 1581." 



BEER 

is a small place, lying between very steep hills, about 
a mile from Seaton. Many of the houses are built of 
free-stone, from the famous free-stone quarry. The 
Cove is well calculated for fishing, and, from its situa- 
tion, capable of being made one of the best fishing- 
places of the kingdom. Great quantities of fish are 
caught and brought in here; but a much larger quan- 
tity is sent off, by contract, to the markets of Taunton 
and Bath, and some even to London. 

The classic author of the " Fisher Boy," a pecu- 
liarly faithful descriptive Poem, lately published, has, 
in a note, some very just remarks, which are applica- 
ble, riot only to the sea-scenery of Beer, but to various 
other parts of the coast. 

«« I have frequently repaired with a party of friends, 
to dine on some rocky eminence, bearing the cold pro- 
visions on a donkey. Upon such occasions, the cloth 
being spread on the grass, we have enjoyed a meal, 
surrounded by a grandeur of scenery that bade dehance 
to the most sumptuous edifices reared by the hand of 
art. From the maddening height the expanded bosom 
of the ocean has reflected various colours; sometimes 
showing the red hue" of the clinTowering a darkening 



75 
shade on the deep, at others, tinged with variegated 
hues of green, or spangled by the dazzling rays of a 
sultry sun. In short, all the varieties of prismatic co- 
lour have blazed in succession, a never-ending source 
of wonder and delight. As to inland scenery, I will 
allow that it is fraught with beauty, but for the truly 
sublime, nothing can vie with the surface of the ocean, 
whether in a calm, or agitated by tempestuous fury." 

Bovey, a very ancient seat in this manor, was the 
inheritance of the Walronds, of Bradfield, near Col- 
lumpton. It is the property of Lady Rolle, the only 
surviving daughter of the late William Walrond, Esq. 
and at present is the residence of Win. Read, Esq. a 
native of Ireland. It is a very old, irregular building, 
of free-stone. " The chapel here," says Risdon, 
" should seem to be founded by the Walronds, as their 
arms are cut in the moorstone pillars, just at the bot- 
tom of the arches." — " On visiting Bovey some years 
since," says a gentleman, "I was pleased with the 
venerable appearance of the house, and every object 
around it. It was then the residence of the widow of 
Mr. Walrond, just mentioned. There was something 
unusually striking in the antique mansion, the old 
rookery behind it, the mossy pavement of the court, 
the raven in the porch, grey with years, and even the 
domestics hoary in service— they were all grown old 
together." 

The parish church is dedicated to St. Gregoiy. It 
is an ancient free-stone building, slated: the tower 
low and heavy, containing four bells. A handsome 
marble monument in the church bears the following 
inscription: 

Sacred to the memory of William Walrond, Esq. who died at 
Bovey, in 1762, aged forty-five years; and of his first wife and 



76 

infant son: also of Sarah Oke, his second wife, by whom he had 
issue, Sarah, Courtenay-William, and Judith-Maria. Of these, 
the last, and only surviving one, wife of John Rolle, Esq. M.P. 
for Devon, erected this monument in respect of the best of parents, 
and at the request of her mother, who departed this life, February 
the 1st, 1787, aged 67." 

The vicarage-bouse, near the church, is an old 
building. In this parish is one dissenting chapel. On 
an eminence, called South Down, is a most delightful 
and extensive prospect, by sea, from Portland, to the 
Start Point— -by land, of a great part of the counties of 
Dorset, Somerset and Devon. The chief employment 
of the inhabitants here and at Seaton is fishing, in 
which they are very expert. They are reckoned toge- 
ther, in both parishes, about fifteen hundred, in general 
strong and healthy. At the head of Beer, a pure spring 
rises out of the flint rock, and runs in a clear current 
through the town. 



SEATON 

is a small town, c< lying full upon the sea," irregularly 
built, and consisting chiefly of one street. Its situa- 
tion is low and marshy: its hedges are well wooded; 
its roads are narrow, but good, and give scope for very 
pleasant walks and rides; its beach, though not so fine 
as that at Sidmouth, affords an agreeable promenade. 

This place is memorable for the landing of the 
Danish princes in the year 937 ; as also for the attempt 
of the inhabitants of Colyton to make a port there, 
which they gravely named Colyton Haven, and pro- 
cured a collection under the great seal of England for 
the levying of money to effect their purpose : " Of Ibis 



77 
Work," says Risdon, " there remains no monument, 1 * 
nor is the spot known where it was intended to be. 
On SeatOn beach, as upon most of the openings of the 
coast, a small battery has been erected. 

Salcombe, Branscombe, Beer and Seaton, are all on 
the coast, and lie to the south of the road from Sid- 
mouth to Lyme: the only places to the north of it, which 
our plan leads us to point out, are Colyton and Shute. 



COLYTON, 

nine miles from Sid mouth and about a mile to the 
north of Colyford, a small village, through which runs 
the turnpike road from Sidmouth to Lyme, is a small 
market town, situated on the western side of the Coly, 
where it falls into the Axe. It is a compact little place* 
and has a good market-house, a school-house and a neat 
Presbyterian chapel. A large house, become by ex- 
change of lands and inheritance the property of Sir 
"William de la Pole, is the most considerable building in 
the place. The situation of Colyton is most delightful* 
lying in a beautiful and fertile valley, through which 
the Coly and the Axe roll their winding streams to the 
sea. The views from many parts in the vicinity of the 
town are extremely beautiful, being finely varied by a 
mixture of hill, vale, river and sea. The enclosures 
are high hedges, planted in general with elm-trees. 
The houses, are, for the most part, built of free and 
flint stone, and very neatly thatched. Colyton is a 
good dairy parish, remarkable for its rich butter and 
its "skim-milk" cheeses. The town, in the time of 
William the Conqueror, belonged to the Crown. 
Richard I. gave it, together with Whitford, to Thomas 
I* 



78 
Basset, nephew of Walter Dunstanvil. King John 
granted an annual fair to continue eight days. 

The church, dedicated to St. Andrew, is a strong 
stone edifice. The tower, which altogether looks 
handsome, consists apparently of one tower built upon 
another; the upper part is octagonal, raised on a large 
square structure that divides the church from the 
chancel. In this tower are six bells. On the southern 
side of the chancel is an enclosed burial-place, belonging 
to theDe la Poles, highly ornamented with statues and 
other monumental decorations. In an enclosed burial- 
place, the property of Sir George Yonge's family, on 
the northern side of the chancel, there is a small font 
for holy water. Under a stone canopy, in a small 
northern aisle, is the image of a girl, apparently about 
five years old. Over her are the Royal and the Cour- 
tenay arms. She is said to have been a grand-daughter 
of Edward IV. by one of his daughters, who was 
married to a Courtenay of Colcombe. Her death 
being, as was reported, occasioned by a fish-bone 
sticking in her throat, she is vulgarly called " the 
little choke a-bone." 

A new chapel, belonging to Dissenters, of Calvinistic 
sentiments, has been lately erected at Colyton ; the 
pulpit originally in the church, was formerly occupied 
by Dr. Manton, whose ponderous volume of sermons 
on the 119th Psalm is said to have had considerable 
influence in making the celebrated Lord Shaftesbury 
an unbeliever. 

Shute, a small parish, contains the village of 
Whitford, on the western side of the Axe : it consists 
of about twenty houses. A great part of a very old 
seat called Shute House, was destroyed by its late 
owner, and a handsome modern habitation erected upon 



79 

a larger scale. New Shute House, begun in 1737, is 
distant from the old mansion two furlongs south-east. 
It is a fine stone building, very pleasantly situated 
under Shute Hill. The aspect is nearly south by east. 
It has a delightful view in front, with a very handsome 
lawn, and is about four miles from the sea. " The 
plan of the house is a square of about sixty-eight feet, 
with two handsome wings, connected with the body by 
corridores. The principal rooms are, a dining-parlour, 
forty feet by twenty-three, fifteen in height; a drawing- 
room, thirty-six feet by twenty-three, of the same 
height; a large breakfast-parlour, and a handsome 
library. The entrance has a portico of the Doric 
order, with columns; and the vestibule, fifteen feet 
wide, leads to a very grand geometrical Portland-stone 
staircase." 

On Shute Hill is an ancient fire-beacon, in good 
preservation. The church, dedicated to St. Peter, is a 
small stone building, and contains several monuments 
of the family of Sir John William de la Pole, and also 
some of the Templer family. 

Soon after crossing the river from Colyford, on the 
right hand of the road, the traveller is presented with 
a view of Stedcombe, the delightful residence of the 
Reverend Mr. Hallet. The sweet seclusion in which 
it stands, the bright verdure and rich foliage with 
which it is surrounded, and the air of substantial 
comfort which the house affords, furnish altogether 
a train of pleasurable sensations. " The hill of Sted- 
combe," says Polwhele, " gradually rising from the 
extensive level of the marshes to a conical height, 
suggests the idea of Mount Vesuvius. It is richly 
wooded, and a stream of water runs at its foot." 
Nothing is wanted to complete the harmony of the 
whole scene, but that the house should be white. 



8Q 



RIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, NORTHWARDS. 

Between Sidmouth and Honiton, the only places 
are, Sidford, Sidbury, and Gittisham. 



SIDFORD 

is a small village, about two miles from Sidmouth, 
of the form of the letter L ; at the east end of the longest 
part of which is a neat stone bridge of one arch, over 
the river Sid, which rises in this parish from five heads, 
which, after flowing through the hamlets of Sandcome, 
Harcombe, Levercombe, Lyncombe and Buscombe, 
are united in one stream, and fall, after a beautiful ser- 
pentine course, into the sea at Sidmouth. In this 
village tradition records a house in which Charles II. 
slept one nighr, after the narrow escape he had of being 
discovered by a blacksmith at Lyme, who was em- 
ployed in shoeing the horse on which he rode: this 
was just before his escape to the Continent. Even 
loyalty will, perhaps, read with a smile, that the good 
lady, who was at that time the mistress of the house, 
never afterwards entered the room in which the royal 
fugitive had slept, without making a low courtesy. 



SIDBURY 

is a large parish, sixteen miles in circumference, sur- 
rounded by and containing a multitude of hills. The 
rides and walks in it are uncommonly various and 
beautiful. The town is, upon the whole, a mean- 



81 

looking place, where a great deal of lace is made. It 
has a stone bridge of one large arch ; and two places of 
worship, a church and a dissenting meeting-house— 
both are situated near Court Hall, which is the old 
manor-house, and now the property of Robert Hunt, 
Esq. lord of the manor, and this year (1820) Sheriff for 
the County; by whom it has been repaired and beau- 
tified, and divided into two dwellings, both of which 
as Mr. Hunt resides at Woodhouse, are let. Wood- 
house belonged, in the time of Richard II. to John de 
Woodhouse, whose ancestors were called De Bosco. — 
A little way beyond Sid bury is Cofford, or Cotesford 
House, a very pleasant modernized residence, the pro- 
perty of Joseph Jenkins, Esq. 

The church, dedicated to St. Giles, is a uniform 
structure. It had formerly an organ, and the tower 
contains six musical bells. Under the end of Castle 
Hill, W. Guppy, Esq. has lately erected a house, which 
commands a wonderfully fine and extensive prospect, 
and is itself a conspicuous object from Sidmouth beach, 
Peak Hill, and a number of other places. 

Buscomhe, a small hamlet in this parish, has an 
uncommonly lovely situation, embosomed by hills, and 
surrounded by rural beauty. It was thus described a 
few years ago, by an eye witness. " I found my friend 
and his family embosomed in a vale, which, for the 
softness of its air, and the richness of its prospect, can- 
not be exceeded. Their habitation (which bears the 
name of White House) was neat and commodious; 
their view on the left extended towards the sea, and on 
the right was terminated by a rising hill; whilst the 
declivity of the opposite mountain, intersected by 
enclosures, and spotted with sheep, imparted a pic- 
turesque scene to the eye of the beholder. Near the 
door ran a rivulet, which by its murmurs soothed the 



82 
ear, and by its transparency gratified imagination. At 
the distance of two fields above the house, the sea 
beautifully unfolded itself to view between the hills." 
White House has lately been improved and enlarged 
by its present possessor, Mr. Robert Man ley. 

The execrable old road ascending Pin hill, is now 
superseded by a new line, commencing about half a 
mile beyond Cotesford House. It is a fine broad and 
level road for about two miles gentle ascent ; and 
having gained the summit of the hill, the scene must 
be witnessed to be conceived. Truly may it be said, 
looking down Sidmouth Valley, Devonshire is indeed 
the garden of England ! 

The ride afterwards to Honiton lies over a fine 
elevated, and extensive down, called Gittisham hill; 
and once more— the varied, luxuriant and far-stretch- 
ing prospect which breaks upon the eye, at the Honi- 
ton end of the hill, " beggars" all description. On the 
west end of this down, and about two miles from 
Honiton, is the village of Gettesham. 



GETTESHAM, 

or, as it is commonly called, Gitsam. It is an extremely 
neat, healthy, and picturesque place, delightfully situ- 
ated, and though not large, consisting, as has been well 
observed, of many " trim cottages," the inhabitants of 
which are in general " remarkably neat in their houses, 
as well as their persons." A pleasant rivulet, rising 
from various springs on the adjacent hills, runs by 
Coombe House and through the village. 

Coombe House has been, ever since 1615, the pro- 
perty and residence of the Putts: in that year it was 
purchased by Nicholas Putt, Esq. " who at that time 



83 
possessed a large sum of money, as well as several 
estates and manors in Dorset, Somerset and Cornwall." 
The house is a very ancient edifice, without any at- 
tempt at regularity; its situation is truly delightful ; 
and it contains many pleasant and convenient rooms; 
its last improver was the present possessor, the Rev. 
Thomas Putt, who has made it a most truly elegant 
mansion. The parish church is a neat stone structure. 
Henry Beaumont, a gentleman distinguished in the 
records of charity, lies buried in the south aisle: a 
white marble monument is erected to his memory, 
where he appears kneeling before the altar. Behind 
him is Elizabeth his wife, in the same attitude: near 
her, is the figure of an infant, in swaddling clothes; 
above, are the arms of the family, and underneath a 
long epitaph, in English alexandrines, by which it ap- 
pears that Mr. Beaumont died April 1, 1591. 

Other magnificent monuments are to be seen in this 
church, particularly two; one to the memory of Sir 
Thomas Putt, Bart, who died June 25, 1686 ; and the 
other to the memory of John Fiennes, Esq. a young 
gentleman who died while he was upon a visit at 
Coombe House. 

There is a tradition relative to a spot in this part 
of Devonshire, called The Ring in the Mire, to the fol- 
lowing purport. It is. said, that Isabel de Fortibus, 
w 7 ife of the Earl of Albemarle, and daughter of Bald- 
win de Ripariis, the seventh Earl of Devon, determined 
a controversy between the parishes of Honiton, Far- 
way, Sidbury, and Gittisham, relative to their bounds, 
in the following singular way : Being a lady of great 
power and influence, she rode up to the plain where 
the parishes meet, and into a little miry place threw a 
a ring, which she took off her finger, and said that 
place should be the bounds of the four parishes. Thus 



84 
it has remained ever since, and the spot is still knowri 
by the name of The Ring in the Mire. 



HONITON 

is a considerable market and borough town, nearly 
three quarters of a mile long, lying on the great wes- 
tern road from London to Exeter. It consist princi- 
pally of one broad street, running from east to west, and 
of another, not so long, from north to south. Some 
distance from the south end, and on the top of a hill, 
stands the church. A stream of very transparent water 
flows through the town, into which there are square 
dipping places before almost every door. Many of the 
houses in Honiton are good,, and owing to three fires 
which it has suffered, the last of which happened in 
1797, the greater part of it has an airy modern aspect. 
It is a great thoroughfare, and has several good inns, 
particularly the Dolphin and the Golden Lion. The 
Dolphin has been erected since the last fire. The Gol- 
den Lion has an antique appearance. The shops in 
Honiton are, many of them, very good, and well 
stocked; but the Shambles, a long slated market-place, 
in the middle of the town, is, except when it is filled 
with provisions, an unsightly nuisance. It is, indeed, 
a disgrace to the place. Several attempts have been 
made to remove it, but selfishness, that eternal bar to 
improvement, has hitherto been an overmatch for every 
other consideration. The thread lace, manufactured 
chiefly in the neighbouring villages, is sold here in 
great quantities. Some exquisitely beautiful patterns 
being both broad and rich, bear a high price. 

We learn from Risdon, that Drogo, a Saxon, held 
this manor before the conquest; but that the Conque- 



85 
ror gave the manor and town of Honiton to Robert 
Earl of Moreton, his maternal half brother, whom he 
made also Earl of Cornwall. It now belongs to Lord 
Courtenay. 

At the east end of the town, facing the road from 
Axminster, is a modern-built house, called Holy-shut 
Cot. Its garden adjoins the Taunton road, called Holy- 
shut Lane, from a spring of water of that name, about 
fifty yards down it. The water of this spring is highly 
esteemed, as it is supposed to surpass all in its vicinity 
in purity. 

The parish church, dedicated to St. Michael the 
Archangel, is very inconveniently situated on a hill, 
almost half a mile from the town. It is built of stone, 
and supposed to have been erected about 1482. It is 
in the form of a cross. The tower is square, and about 
sixty-three feet high, with five bells. It possesses a 
good organ, and a beautiful altar-piece of white stone* 
By the church-door is a tombstone, in memory of Dr. 
Marwood, Physician to Queen Elizabeth, who died 
September 18, 1617, aged 105 ; and on the pillars 
which support two of the aisles, is this inscription — 
" Pray for the souls of John Takell and Joan hys 
wyffe." These two persons are supposed to have built 
the said aisles. 

The chapel of Allhallows, which stands nearly in 
the middle of the town, is supposed to have been the 
ancient parish church ; the present building is a modern 
edifice. Honiton has also two dissenting chapels, one 
belonging to the Baptists, and the other to the Cal- 
vinistic Presbyterians. 

The situation of this town is extremely pleasant, in 
a richly cultivated vale, upon a rising ground on the 
south side of the Otter. 

M 



86 

Honiton, is what is termed an " open borough ;" it 
sends two Members to Parliament. Its election con- 
tests are often severe. The returning officer is the 
portreeve for the time being. 

The population of Honiton, as returned to Parlia- 
ment in 1803, was two thousand three hundred and 
seventy-seven persons. 



PvIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, TOWARDS THE 
NORTH-WEST. 

Exeter lies in this direction, fifteen miles from 
Sidmouth : in the usual road to it lie Harpford, Newton 
Poppleford and Clyst ; either of which will make the 
boundary of a pleasant ride. St. Mary Ottery, whose 
beautiful church is well worthy inspection, lies three 
miles beyond Harpford, on the right hand of the Exeter 
road, going from Sidmouth. 



HARPFORD WOOD. 

A little more than three miles from Sidmouth, at a 
farm-house called Boughwood, or Bowd, is the entrance 
of Harpford Wood, which measures, within the hedges, 
three hundred and seventy acres. It is greatly and 
deservedly admired for the variety and beauty of its 
views, and for the richness of its sylvan scenery. It 
consists of ridges of hills, covered with fine young 
timber, principally of beech and oak. The roads, 
through it are scarcely passable for carriages, but every 
where adapted for the convenience and pleasure of 



87 
horse and foot visitants. As Ladram Bay is a favorite 
morning voyage, so is this delightful retreat an excur- 
sion by land, where numerous pic nics are formed in 
the summer season, to the great advantage of the 
owners of hack horses and donkies. 

At the end of Ottery hill, which terminates near 
the wood, are the remains of an ancient fire-beacon ; 
the prospect from this spot is a fine panorama. 

At the west end of this wood lies the village of 
Hartford, or, as it is commonly pronounced, Har- 
ford. It is small but neat, and enjoys a most delightful 
situation. On the east it looks on the wood just de- 
scribed, and, on the west and south, it commands many 
of the windings of the Otter, as it flows through a rich 
and lovely valley towards the ocean. 

A very old building, near the church, erected, as 
appears by a stone in the front wall, in the year 1571, 
is called in the old parish rates, Court Place. The old 
county jail for felons makes a part of the buildings ; 
some of which are still visible. The jail was removed 
from thence to Bicton by the family of the Rolles, and 
thence to Exeter, where it now remains. 

The church, a small low building, with a tower 
and three bells, is dedicated to St. Gregory. The 
vicarage house is a convenient modern edifice, erected 
in 1768. 

Leaving Harpford a little on the right hand, and 
crossing the Otter, over a stone bridge of five arches, 
the Factory, erected some years ago, for spinning of 
wool, strikes the eye as a very neat building. It stands 
on the left hand of the road, on the banks of the river, 
and is an ornamental feature in the beautiful scenery 
with which it is accompanied. 



88 



NEWTON POPPLEFORD 

is a long, mean-looking place, containing two public 
houses, dignified with the name of inns. Tradition 
says it was anciently a borough, though the charter 
has been long lost. It still retains its portreeve. About 
the middle of the village is a chapel, lately repaired, 
dedicated to St. Luke. It was formerly a chantry, 
founded in the fourth year of Edward III. by Hugh de 
Courtenay, Earl of Devon. Tradition says it was built 
as an atonement for some crime. The commissioners 
in 1648, under the Commonwealth, remark — " Newton 
Poppleford, fit to be united to Harpford. Service 
every fifth Sunday at Newton." There is a large fair 
for cheese and cattle held here in October. 

The Protestant Dissenters of Cahinistic senti- 
ments have erected a chapel at Newton, nearly in 
the centre of the place. 



CLYST ST. MARY, 

nearly twelve miles from Sidmouth, has nothing to 
distinguish it but a fine situation : it lies upon the river 
Grindle, which washes the western end of it. The 
length of the bridge marks the extent to which this 
stream sometimes inundates the meadows on each side. 
In 1748, there were seventeen families in St. Mary 
Clyst; in 1791, eighteen families, making a sum total 
of one hundred and seven persons. The Mansion-house 
is a large square white building, standing on an elevated 
*pot, in a lawn of about sixty acres. The church of 
Clyst has nothing remarkable in it. 



89 



OTTERY ST. MARY, 

seven miles from Sidmouth, is the principal place to 
which the Otter, on which it stands, communicates its 
name ;— it is a market town, and though built chiefly 
on a gentle hill, He6 low with respect to the country 
through which it is approached. Dr. Maton, speaking 
of his ride to it from Sidmouth, says — " Taking leave 
of the coast for the present, we proceeded towards 
Exeter, through Ottery. The red oxyde of iron con- 
tinued to tinge the soil the whole way, and added to 
the richness of the surrounding scenery ; and the 
romantic winding of the river and the road exhibited a 
novel and agreeable effect. We descended into Ottery 
under the umbrage of widely spreading trees, the 
branches of which screened the town from our view 
until we arrived close to it; but the venerable towers of 
the church sometimes peeped through the foliage." 

A clear stream runs through the town, and there 
are many convenient dipping-places from which the 
water may be easily taken: in the middle of the town 
is a spring, which sparkles with all the transparency 
of the Bristol waters, and is said to possess their quali- 
ties, but it has not their warmth. Another spring, 
rising near a house called Paradise, has been used me- 
dicinally as a solvent for the stone, and it was thought, 
by one gentleman, with some success. 

The country about Ottery has all the features and 
beauties of the Devonshire landscape: the orchards 
and gardens, the verdure of the fields, and the richness 
of the hedge rows, at a little distance, form, from the 
fine terrace in the church-yard, a very interesting 
picture. 



90 

The houses in Ottery are strikingly various: in 
Mill Street is an old house, of a monasterial air, which 
was once the residence of the celebrated Sir Walter 
Raleigh. Cromwell's Convention-room is the largest 
of the parlours in one of the old collegiate houses, just 
by the church-yard. 

These, and other edifices more or less ancient, are 
contrasted with the new brick houses erected after the 
fire, and the Factory, a new structure of considerable 
size. Of the fact connected with Cromwell's Conven- 
tion-room, Echard gives the following account:— 
" About the time that Exeter was besieged, Crom- 
well came to Otter}% to raise men and money from 
the town and neighbourhood. For this purpose he 
held a convention there, in a parlour now standing 
westward of the church. The people of Ottery refused 
to comply with his request, or rather requisition. 
Cromwell was so much irritated at their refusal, that 
he ordered his men to destroy all the ornaments of the 
church. The organ in the body of the church, and 
the organ in the chapel (now the library), were both 
dashed to pieces; and several line monumental figures 
decapitated." 

The church was dedicated and given to St. Mary 
in Roan by Edward the Confessor. " This church," 
says Risdon, " is fairaccording to the structure of those 
times; whereof the windows, little and low, are so 
bedecked with the armories of diverse benefactors, 
more especially of the founders, that instead of lux 
fuit, it may be verified, that they are umbrated there- 
by." The two lowers, on the north and south sides, 
are, " each of them, it is said, eighty feet high, about 
half the height of those of Exeter cathedral, from 
which they were copied." By the style of the win- 



91 
dows, it is supposed that these towers were erected 
about the time of Henry III. 

This church has now a very handsome altar-piece; 
over which is inscribed Jacobus Rex, 1688. On the 
sides of the pulpit, which is of cedar, are admirably 
carved, by William Culne, a common carpenter, born 
in Ottery, the four Evangelists. In the body of the 
church, between two pillars, under a pyramidal arch, 
is the stone statue of a warrior, armed cap-a-pie, with 
a lion at his feet— and opposite, between two pillars, 
and arched in the same manner, is laid a female figure. 
Heraldic ornaments, now defaced by time, were once 
about these figures. There is no inscription, and tra- 
dition bestows upon them the names of William Gran- 
dison, father of the bishop, and Sibyl his wife.— in the 
chancel are several monumental inscriptions, in me- 
mory of the now decayed Haydon family, and others. 
The Calvinistic Dissenters have a chapel, and a consi- 
derable congregation in Ottery. 



RIDE FROM SIDMOUTH, WESTWARD, OVER 
PEAK HILL. 

To the westward of Sidmouth, between that and 
Exmouth, lie the following places, affording bounda- 
ries for longer or shorter excursions : Otterton, Bicton, 
Woodbury, Budleigh Solterton and Littleham. Seve- 
ral of these places can be seen from Peak Hill, parti- 
cularly Otterton and Bicton. 

OTTERTON, 

that is, a toion upon the Otter, is now a poor place, 
consisting principally of one street. The male inhabi- 



<>8 
tants of it are almost entirely farmers and their labour- 
ers, with a few necessary mechanics : the females are 
almost wholly employed in the making a coarse kind 
of thread lace. The situation of the parish is both 
pleasant and healthy. The cliffs bordering on the sea 
are very high, and nearly perpendicular: the air is 
dry and salubrious: a stone bridge crosses the river: 
the roads are very narrow ; the enclosures are nume- 
rous ; and the orchards and hedges very flourishing. 
Camden says, " the name of the river is derived from 
the plenty of otters or water-dogs." Modern observa- 
tion does not confirm this account, whatever it might 
have been formerly ; the Otter is now merely a trout- 
stream. 

The manor of Otterton is a very noble one. From 
the conquest to the dissolution of abbies, it continued 
in the hands of religious men. William the Conque- 
ror gave it to St Michael de Monte, in Normandy. 
Upon the surrender, Richard Duke, a clerk of the 
Augmentation-court, procured it, and built a noble 
house upon an ascent a little way from the river, which 
turns the mills below. The grant, dated in 1540, gives 
to Richard Duke the manors of Otterton and East 
Budleigh, with all their rights and privileges, and roy- 
alties, and the patronage of the vicarages of Otterton, 
Budleigh and Harpford, for the sum of £n*ll 4s. 2rf. 

In 1775 the Duke estate, in default of male heirs, 
descended to four sisters, now all dead. Soon after 
the estate was advertised for sale. Lord Rolle was 
the purchaser, and is the present possessor of it: he 
has taken down almost the whole of the house. 

Having put up your horse at the public-house in 
Otterton, it is a delectable treat to the admirer of land- 
scape scenery to enter Otterton Park, and follow the 
path on the bank of the Otter— approaching the sea, 



93 
cross a wooden bridge, and return the opposite side of 
the river, unless it is found desirable to extend the ramble; 
when having gained the seashore, the retired and neat 
little watering-place Budleigh Salterton, is to be seen, 
about half a mile to the westward. 

Close to the remains of the house stands the church, 
dedicated to St. Michael, a stone building, with a slated 
roof; within, it is extremely neat, being uniformly 
pewed with the best wainscot, at the recommendation 
of Mr. John Duke, about fifty years ago. The inhabi- 
tants of Otterton House were for several ages, much 
inclined to the Dissenting cause. 

Crossing Otterton Bridge, at a little distance on 
the right hand, lies 



BICTON, 

the property and residence of Lord Rolle, who has 
lately completed a noble mansion, which may be seen 
from Peak Hill. It stands in a beautiful park, well 
stocked with deer, and distinguished for its noble and 
venerable groves of beech and oak. It is remarkable, 
that the tenure of Bicton is still to keep the jail of the 
county. " This," it has been remarked, " is perfectly 
right : the possessor of the manor of Bicton has been 
always obliged" (from the time of Henry I.) " to find 
a county jail" 

The church of Bicton, dedicated to the Holy 
Trinity, is thus beautifully described by the historian 
of Devonshire. " It is a small, but neat building. Its 
situation is most romantic. Placed in silence and soli- 
tude, it stands embowered amidst the fine deep foliage 
of forest trees, that surround it at a little distance, and 
interweave their branches, as if to secure it from every 



94 
prying eye. Whilst we approach the church, we feel 
sensations of awe, from its holy seclusion: but they are 
mixed with ideas of fairy scenery. The spot is, in 
itself, most enchanting. Thus encircled by such a 
beautiful screen of woods, thus insulated, and with- 
drawn from the world, we fancy ourselves amidst the 
groves of Rousseau's Ermenonville, and recalling his 
fine painting to memory, can recognize, almost, its 
prototype in the objects around us." 

The present parsonage-house, a convenient brick 
mansion, was built about forty years ago : it stands on 
a rising ground, about a quarter of a mile from the 
church, and in full view of the public road. 



BUDLEIGH. 

There are two or three villages of this name, at no 
great distance from each other. The church, and a 
Dissenting chapel, stand in the principal one, denomi- 
nated East Budleigh, through which lies the road from 
Sidmouth to Salterton, and to Exmouth. Sir W. Pole 
says, " Budleigh is a small market town." The church 
is dedicated to All Saints; it is a handsome stone edi- 
fice, with a square tower eighty feet high : it has five 
bells and a clock. There are several coats of arms in 
the windows, and on the facing of the old seats. On 
one seat is a representation of Bishop Blaze. In the 
church-yard is a stone with this inscription, but with- 
out a date :— 

Orate yro anima Radulphi Node. 
" Pray for the soul of Radulphus Node." 

Tradition says, this was the sepulchre of a man who 
broke his neck in attempting to fly from the church 



tower with artificial wings ; the inscription, it seems, 
is now obliterated. 



TIDWELL HOUSE 

is a large, square, and remarkably substantial brick 
building, with a multitude of windows, at a small dis- 
tance from the road to Ex mouth. It had formerly 
lords so named. Joan, the daughter of the last of that 
line, was the wife of John de St. Clere. Gabriel St. 
Clere, one of his descendants, after he had wasted his 
estate, by excessive hospitality, began to take his house 
to pieces, and sell the materials; affirming, that 
" neither he nor his posterity could prosper, as long as 
one stone stood upon another, of a house where so 
many sins had been committed." One of this family, 
we are told, was distinguished by the following act of 
uncommon loyalty : When Henry II. was besieging 
the castle of Bridgnorth, in the possession of Hugh de 
Mortimer, Hubert de St. Clere, perceiving the King 
aimed at from the castle walls, stepped in before his 
sovereign, received the arrow into his own body, and 
expired. The King not only interred the deceased 
with all military honours, but took his young and only 
daughter under his protection ; and when she was mar- 
riageable, gave her to William de Longville, a man of 
noble birth, and in high favour with the King. With 
her, the inheritance descended from her father, with 
large additions ; but on these terms—" that, to perpe- 
tuate the memory of the faithful Hubert, Longville 
should bear both the name and surname of her father, 
and be called Hubert de St. Clere." The present 
house was built by Counsellor Walrond about seventy 
years ago, and was, in right ot his wife, the property of 



96 

the late John Edye, Esq. of Pinney, near Lyme. Of 
the springs at Tidwell, Risdon gives the following 
account; " The ponds at Tidwell, maintained by 
springs, continually whelm and boil up, not unlike 
that wonderful well in Derbyshire, which ebbeth and 
floweth by just tides. These springs are so warm, 
that, whilst all the waters around them are frozen, they 
are fiee from ice in the coldest weather ; when abun- 
dance of wild-fowl flock hither, to the no little pleasure 
and profit of the place." 

Hays, situated on the western side of the parish of 
East Budleigh, is celebrated as the birth-place of the 
famous Sir Walter Raleigh. 

The general history of this celebrated man is too 
well known to be here recapitulated: the peculiar 
severity, not to say injustice, of the sentence by which 
he was at last executed, gives him a claim to the com- 
passion of all succeeding ages, and serves to immor- 
talize a name which, both by the pen and the sword, 
has become dear to his country. 

In the Fourth Book of the Columbian, an epic 
poem, of considerable merit, which has recently made 
its appearance, the following just and animated picture 
of this great man occurs : 

" High on the tallest deck majestic shon« 
Sage Raleigh, pointing to the western sun: 
His eye, bent forward, ardent and sublime, 
Seem'd piercing nature, and evolving time ; 
Beside him stood a globe, whose figures trac'd 
A future empire in each present waste; 
All former works of men behind him shone, 
Grav'd by his hand in ever-during stone : 
On his calm brow a various crown displays 
The hero's laurel and the scholar's bays ; 
His graceful limbs in steely mail were drest, 



97 
The bright star Reaming on his lofty breast ; 
His sword, high waving, flashed the solar ray, 
Illum'd the shrouds, and rainbow'd far the spray ; 
The smiling crew rose resolute and brave, 
And the glad sails hung bounding o'er the wave." 

" The Aubrey Papers," published in 1813, contain 
the following account of this celebrated man : 

" Sir Walter Raleigh was a tall, handsome, bold 
man— he had a most remarkable aspect, an exceeding 
high forehead, long faced, and sour eye-lidded, a kind 
of a pig-eye. He was the first that brought tobacco to 
England and into fashion. In Malmsbury Hundred, 
in North Wiltshire it came first into fashion, by Sir 
Walter Long. They had first silver pipes. Common 
people used a walnut-shell and a straw. I have heard 
my great-grandfather Lyte say, that one pipe was 
handed from man to man round the table. Sir Walter 
Raleigh, standing in a stand at Sir Robert Poyntz's 
park at Acton, took a pipe of tobacco, which made 
the ladies quit it till he had done. For a long time it 
was scandalous for a divine to take tobacco. I have 
heard some of our old yeomen neighbours say, that 
when they went to Malmsbury or Chippenham mar- 
ket, they culled out their biggest shillings to lay in the 
scales against the tobacco. I have heard my cousin 
Whitney say, that he saw Sir Walter in the Tower. 
He had a velvet cap, laced, a rich gown, and trunk 
hose. 

" In his speech on the scaffold, he spake not one 
word of Christ, but of the great and incomprehensible 
God, with much zeal and adoration, so that my cousin 
Whitney concluded he was an a-christ, not an atheist" 
" Old Sir Thomas Maiett, one of the justices of the 
King's Bench in the time of Charles I. and II. knew 



98 
Sir Walter, and I have heard him say, that, notwith- 
standing his so great mastership in style, and his con- 
versation with the learnedst, and politest persons, yet 
he spake broad Devonshire to his dying day. His 
voice was small." 



" Sir W. Raleigh's letter to Mr. Duke, in Devon, writ 

with his own hand, 
" Mr. Duke, 

" I wrote to Mr. Prideaux to move you 
for the purchase of Hay's, a farm sometime in my 
father's possession. I will most willingly give what- 
soever in your conscience you shall deem it worth, 
and if at any time you shall have occasion to use me* 
you shall find me a thankful friend to you and yours. 
I am resolved, if I cannot entreat you, to build at Col- 
liton; but for the natural disposition 1 have to that 
place, being born in that house, I had rather seat 
myself there than any where else. I take my leave, 
readie to countervail all your courtesies to the utter 
of my power. 

" Your very willing friend, 

" In all that I shall be able, 

* WALTER RALEIGH." 
" Court, July 26, 1584." 



BUDLEIGH SALTERTON, 

two miles from East Budleigh, is a small village upon 
the coast, lying in sight of Torbay : it is increasing in 
reputation as a watering-place, and the number of its 



90 

lodging-houses has been greatly augmented in the last 
few years. Its beach, by the side of which a narrow 
walk has been constructed, is distinguished by a vast 
multitude of broad, flat, oval-shaped pebbles, some of 
which ace veined in a curious manner. 

A small chapel, in which the worship of the Church 
of England is performed, has been built by Lord Rolle ; 
and, by the late Mr. Lackington, a handsome chapel 
for the Wesleyan Methodists, the present minister of 
which is the worthy and eloquent Mr. Hawtrey. 

From Salterton, a pleasant road leads the travel- 
ler to 

LITTLEHAM, 

a small village, two miles from Exmouth, and in the 
parish of which Exmouth lies. Its church is dedi- 
cated to the Holy Trinity, and lies under a hill called 
Westdown. " Here, in an aisle belonging to the 
Drake family," says Prince, " is this epitaph, on the 
tomb of Robert Drake," who was noticed for his 
benefactions in the time of Charles I. 

Preachers and poor can say my death 
Was ended in a lively faith ; 
The yearly gifts that I then gave 
Till time be ended they must have. 

This Robert Drake, born at Sprathays., in the 
parish ofLittleham, was the third son of Gilbert Drake, 
of that piace, a younger branch of the family of Ash. 
After having studied the law at the Inner Temple, he 
married, and settled at Daleditch, in East Budleigh. 
He died in 1628. 
L.ofC. 



100 



EXMOUTH 



is the oldest watering-place in Devonshire. Prince 
calls it " a small hamlet.'' About a century ago, one 
of the judges of the circuit, in a very infirm state of 
health, received so much benefit from bathing there, 
that it was brought into repute. It is ten miles south 
from Exeter, and twelve from Sidmouth. It is shel- 
tered from the north-east and south-east winds by 
some hills, which supply it with excellent water. It 
is now a considerable place, and can boast a great 
many new and commodious houses. 

A part of a letter, written about thirty years ago, 
giving an account of what Exmouth was then, is here 
inserted, becauses it serves to mark more distinctly the 
numerous improvements which have since taken place, 
not only there, but in all the watering-places on the 
coast : at that time Exmouth was, probably, at the 
head of the list. 

" The village is a very pretty one, and composed 
for the most part of cot-houses, neat and clean, consist- 
ing of four or five rooms, which are generally let at a 
guinea a- week. We have, from some of the houses, 
when the tide is in, a beautiful view of the river, which 
united with the sea, forms a fine sheet of water before 
our doors, of large extent. Lord Courtenay and Lord 
Lisburne's grounds, rising in inequalities on the other 
shore, complete the perspective. This is the most gay 
part of the village, but then its brilliancy is only tem- 
porary; for, the tide returned, instead of a fine sheet 
of water, we are presented with a bed of mud, whose 
perfumes are not exactly those of a bed of roses. 
Another part affords you the view of scattered cottages, 



101 
forming a pleasing rural scene. Here the gratification 
which the eye receives is less delightful and more 
durable: for which last property there are some who 
prefer this to the former situation. Exmouth boasts 
no public rooms nor assemblies, save one card assem- 
bly, in an inconvenient apartment, at one of the inns, 
on Monday evenings. The company meet at half- 
past five, and break up at ten : they play at shilling 
whist, and two-penny quadrille. We have very few 
young people here, and no diversions. Walking on a 
hill which commands a view of the ocean, and bathing, 
with a visit or two, serve to pass away the morning, 
and tea-drinking in the evening." — It is necessary here 
to remark what a different picture is here delineated 
from that to which we are now witnesses? Is it worth 
while to decide upon which is the best ? Tempora mu- 
tantur, et mutamur cum illis. " £ay not," says the 
Wise man, " that the former days were better than 
these; for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning 
this." 

At Exmouth, Risdon tells us, was born Sir Richard 
Whitebourne, Knight, whose adventurous voyages in 
discovering the commodities of Newfoundland, and 
endeavours for the plantations and profitable fishings 
there, have merited the general commendation of his 
country, and received honour of the King. From 
hence the Earl of March, afterwards Edward IV. ac- 
companied with the Earls of Sarum and Warwick, set 
sail for Calais, anno 1459, by the assistance of John 
Dynham, Esq. afterwards Lord Treasurer of England. 

A new Library has been opened at Exmouth, 
and other improvements made, since the last edition 
of this work was printed— it is ably conducted by Miss 
Ewens, the daughter of the Proprietor, and possesses 



102 

every convenience desirable; the Library, Billiard- 
Room, Assembly and Card-Rooms, being all under 
one roof, and upon a most liberal scale. 



LYMPSTONE, 

ten miles from Sidmouth, the road from which runs 
through Otierton, and by Bicton Park, is delightfully 
situated on the east side of the Exe. It is very irregu- 
larly built; good houses and mean cottages, are in the 
middle of it, rather closely huddled together. At the 
end of the village is the church, which is seen to ad- 
vantage, as it stands at a little distance from the road. 
Directly opposite the road are some fine meadows, 
through which lies a pleasant rural walk to the hamlet 
of Sowdon: this path winds delightfully by the side of 
willows, or amidst clumps oi' lofty elms, to a charm- 
ingly neat and rural spot, where are some decent lodg- 
ings, with gardens and orchards about them. Fishing 
and lace-making are the employments of the inhabi- 
tants of this place. 

The church is dedicated to St. Mary. It is rather 
low in proportion to the tower, which contains five 
musical bells. On the glass of a window, in the north 
aisle, St. George is represented, with this inscription: 



■the holy Knight, 



Who slew the dragon by his might. 

This church is well seated, and has a handsome 
altar-piece. A neat Dissenting chapel stands just 
within Woodbury parish ; the attendants are chiefly 
from Lympstone, where the minister resides. 



103 



WOODBURY, 

so called from its ancient woodlands, is a parish with 
eight villages, and still abounding with oak, elm, and 
ash. Woodbury Castle, which crowns -the extensive 
common of that name, gives a noble effect to the 
prospect. 

Church Village is nearly in the centre of the parish. 
The church, which was new built, and dedicated to 
St. Swithin, in 1409, is an edifice of durable stone, 
with a slated roof, and is twenty feet high. The tower 
which is eighty feet, is square, has two strong but- 
tresses at each corner, and on the top sixteen battle- 
ments, and a weathercock. It contains six deep-toned 
musical bells. In the church is one monument, with- 
out an inscription, erected in memory of the present 
Sir Wilmot Prideaux's ancestors, who lived at Nutwefl, 
the seat of Sir Francis Drake, so distinguished in the 
naval records of England. 



Exmouth, Lympstone, Topsham, Lyme and Ax- 
minster, are all too far from Sidmouth, to be often 
visited from thence. It has, however, been thought 
that this picture would scarcely be complete without 
some slight notice of these places, which lie, as it were, 
upon the frame in which it is enclosed. For the same 
reason, Exeter might claim a description; this, 
however, is wholly declined, as it would be impossible 
to do any thing like justice to the Metropolis of 
the West, without too much increasing the bulk of 
this publication. With a brief account, therefore, of 
Topsham, Lyme and Axminster, this little work will 
conclude. 



104 



TOPSHAM. 



consists principally of one street, about half a mile 
long, one part of which is considerably wider than the 
other. Many good houses are scattered through the 
town, but upon the whole it has but a mean appear- 
ance. The southern end is by far the pleasantest part; 
it is called the Strand, and is inhabited mostly by peo- 
ple out of trade. It commands a fine view of the river 
and the opposite bank. A little further up is the Quay,. 
which is large, and now belongs to the corporation of 
Exeter. The road from Topsham to Exeter is very 
good, and rendered extremely pleasant by several de- 
tached genteel houses, and ornamented gardens and 
lawns on each side. 

The church has an antique appearance; it is a 
large but tasteless building, dedicated to St. Margaret. 
It stands on the edge of a high cliff, and consequently 
commands a more extensive view than the Strand. — 
This prospect is full of beauty,— a noble river— distant 
shipping — church-towers glimmering through groupes 
of trees— a fertile vale, and a fine range of mountains 
rising one above another, as far as the eye can reach. 
Besides the church, Topsham has three places of wor- 
ship, two belonging to the Dissenters, and one to the 
Quakers. 

The Retreat, formerly a sugar-house, but now a 
highly ornamented mansion, is perhaps the best resi- 
dence in the immediate vicinity of Topsham. 



l<tf 



LYME, 



Sixteen miles from Sidmouth, is a small sea-port town 
in Dorsetshire: it has long been known as a watering- 
place. It is situated close to the sea, at the mouth of 
a narrow valley, the sides of which are high and steep' 
liills: it is an old place, as. the appearance of many of 
tne houses sufficiently proves. The public room fBr 1 
t*he company is lofty and spacious, and looks full upon 
the bay in which the (own stands. A public walk is 
constructing near the sea, but the shore does not admit 
cf its at all rivalling the beach at Sidmouth; and when 
tlie tide is out, the quantity of mud which is left behind 
is grateful neither to the optic or olfactory nerves. 

The peculiarity of Lyme is the Pier, which forms 
i\s port, and which is denominated the Cobb. Within 
this solid enclosure of mason it, vessels lie in perfect 
Security, but the entrance is narrow, and in stormy 
weather difficult to hit. The walk upon it, however, 
which is broad, and faced with durable stone, is, at 
all times, when dry, and the wind not too boisterous, 
extremely pleasant. 

The liberties of a haven and borough were granted 
to Lyme by Edward L, and from this period it grew 
so prosperous, that in the reign of Edward III. it fur- 
nished four ships and sixty-two mariners, for the sei^e 
of Calais. The corporation consists of a mayor, re- 
corder, town-clerk, and fifteen capital burgesses. It 
has sent representatives to Parliament ever since the 
twenty-third of Edward I. The number of houses 
returned under the population act in 1803, was two 
hundred and seventy-six; the inhabitants one thousand 
Four hundred and fifty-one. 



106 

The seige of Lyme, during the civil wars, was one 
©f the most remarkable which took place during that 
calamitous period. 

Captain Thomas Coram, the patron and contriver of 
the Foundling Hospital, was born at Lyme in 1(508 : in 
his benevolent attention to others, this singularly hu- 
mane and memorable man so entirely forgot himself, 
that in his old age he was supported by a pension of 
somewhat more than a hundred pounds a-year, raised 
for him at the solicitation of Sir Sampson Gideon and 
Dr. Brocklesby. Upon Dr. Brocklesby's applying to 
him, to know whether a subscription being opened for 
his benefit would not ofTend him ? he received this 
noble answer: " I have not wasted the little wealth of 
which I was formerly possessed in self-indulgence, or 
vain expences, and am not ashamed to confess, that at 
this my old age I am poor." He died at his lodgings 
near Leicester Square, March 29, 1751, eighty-three 
years old. " The memory of the good shall be blessed." 

Between Lyme and Colyton, about two miies from 
the former place, lies Finney , an estate which belonged 
to the late John Edye, Esq. who resided upon it— the 
grounds, especially upon the coast, are exceedingly 
romantic and picturesque. 

Upon the hill, about half a mile from Lyme, George 
Holland, Esq. has lately built a large and tasteful villa, 
which he has named High Cliff. It is furnished with 
great elegance, and possesses a spacious and magnifi- 
cent music- rocm. The view of the ocean from this 
truly " marine villa," is peculiarly grand and impressive. 

AXMINSTER, 

nine miles from Honiton, and five from Colyton, is a 
healthy clean town, in the road from Exeter to London : 



107 
it lies on a little hill by the river Axe, " whence," says 
Risdon, " it was 'so called without any addition, till 
King Athelstan's time. But when at this place a 
minster was erected, wherein seven priests should pray 
for the souls of those that were slain, this place got 
that adjunct which it now holdeth." It anciently be- 
longed to the kings of England. — From the heights in 
its neighbourhood the sea is to be discovered. " From 
the hill tops about Stockland," says Dr. Stukeley, " I 
first had sight of the Southern Ocean, a most solemn 
view, a boundless extent of water, thrown into a mighty 
horizontal curve." 

The church, some parts of which have the appear- 
ance of great antiquity, has a very heavy appearance, 
particularly on the inside— it is dedicated to St. Mary. 
There is a school-house close by the church, the win- 
dows. of which are rounded in the Saxon style. The 
walk in the church-yard is pleasant, between rows of 
flourishing lime-trees. The Dissenters have, a well- 
attended chapel in this town. 

A durable sort of carpets, which somewhat resemble 
tapestry, and are called Axminster carpets, have long 
been manufactured here, and are generally esteemed. 

As the first part of this little volume is closed by a 
sonnet to Sidmouth, the following elegant lines on 
" sea-bathing," which, though dated Barmouth, are by 
no means restricted to that place, may not unappro- 
priated close the whole : 

Freed from the couch of sickness, grief, and pain, ^ 
Hither the fainting sufferer comes to lave, 
In the cool freshness of the bracing wave, 
His languid limbs : If so, He may regain 
Of rosy health ! and oh ! if aught can save 
From the dark precincts of the gloomy grave, 
Barmouth ! 'tis thee, and all thy sylvan reign. 



K>S 



GENERAL INFORMATION. 



THE POST OFFICE. 

-The Post arrives from Exeter every. morning, about 
nine o'clock, which conveys, the letters from London 
put in two days previous. Letters for London or else- 
where must be put into this office by six ; but py 
paying one penny with each letter tbey are received 
from that time till half an hour after, when the 
bag is closed. 

A requisition to F. Freeling, Esq. has. received up- 
wards of 200 signatures in favor of the .Mail passing to 
Exeter through Sidford ; letters would then be received 
from London which were put in the day before, and 
might be replied to by return of the- Mail. 



A COACH 

to and from Exeter, is established in a jmost respectable 
manner by Mr. Wm. Street, of the Londqn Inn. As 
it is well horsed, and in every way deserving encourage- 
ment, the proprietor confidently hopes for the patronage 
of the Public. 

Fare to Exeter, and back, 10^. inside ; ~s. outside. 

A CARAYAN, 

with a strong powerful horse, and driven. by an expe- 
rienced coachman, runs three times a week to Taunton, 



10D 
and returns to Sidmouth the alternate days ; carries 
four passengers. Sidmouth to Honiton 4?. (3d. ; ditto 
to Taunton 12s. ; Taunton to Honiton 8s. 



CARRIERS. 

John Way and Win Cockram convey goods to and 
from Exeter every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. 

T. Govier conveys goods to and from Honiton 
every Saturday. 



PLEASURE BOATS, 

attended by expert and careful seamen, are always 
ready ; the principal are kept by 

J. and R. Bartlet, 
Thomas Heffer, John Taylor, 

Henry Conant, R. Bouit, 

W. Radford and T. Siiley, T. Sanders, &e. 

£. s. d. 

A two hours sail is charged 5 

To Exmouth and home 110 

To Dawiish or Teignmouth ......150 

To Seaton 110 

To Lyme 150 



SEDAN AND BATH CHAIRS 

are kept by Win. Rugg, and R. Puddicombe, J. and R. 
Bartlet, W. Radford and T. Siiley, &c. 



110 



BATHING MACHINES 



kept by Marmaduke Taylor and Thomas Heflfer, for 
Gentlemen. 

Terms of bathing, One Shilling first time, and Six- 
pence each time after. 

By Mrs. Barrett and Co. for Ladies.— One Shilling 
and Sixpence first time, and Is. each time after. 

Horses may be hired of B. Butter,* Painter; Wra, 
Gove, Grocer &c. ; Wm, Gale, Linen Draper; Duns- 
ford and Hill, Saddlers ; H. Smith, who have quiet and 
manageable Donkies, with proper saddles for invalids; 
both the latter supply Asses' milk. 



A VIOLIN, kc. 

Parties desirous of making a dance at a short notice, 
will be waited upon by James Barnard, near the Post 
Office. 



THE END* 



IFlindell and Son, Printert, Exeter,} 



v OFC . 

31NDERY 

1903 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 




021 391 241 




■ 



